Handcrafted Prodigy

At noon, since the weather wasn’t too hot, Xia Yanchun decided to nap in the classroom, resting her head on a pillow and sleeping soundly.

Shen Nian took the opportunity to slip off-campus to check out electric scooters. Over the past few days, he had visited three shops before finally settling on a small scooter priced at six thousand yuan. But he wasn’t buying it—just looking. He’d come back when the time was right. Every visit, the shop owner would treat him to snacks and cheap tea. He hadn’t had enough of that yet, so he’d definitely return.

Shen Nian made it back just in time at 2:10 PM, right as the afternoon break bell rang. Xia Yanchun stirred awake, stretching lazily. Her uniform rode up slightly with the movement, revealing a glimpse of fair skin at her waist, which Shen Nian observed with a serious expression.

"I got you a lightly iced one," Shen Nian said, placing the fruit tea on top of her stack of books. He remembered her mentioning once that fruit tea tasted bland without ice, but considering she was still on her period, he opted for a compromise—lightly iced. If it was too cold, she could let it sit for a while.

What a considerate male lead.

The thought of Xia Yanchun pretending to be indifferent while secretly feeling touched made Shen Nian want to smirk.

"Thank you," Xia Yanchun said, genuinely moved. Her throat was dry from waking up, and a sip of the lightly iced fruit tea was pure bliss.

"No problem. After all, we’re not sworn enemies anymore."

Xia Yanchun cringed a little. Who actually went around saying things like "sworn enemies" and "childhood friends" out loud? It was embarrassing. "Sworn enemies" sounded especially intense—left unsaid, it just meant they were rivals, but saying it out loud made it weirdly ambiguous, as if it were some kind of special bond.

The afternoon sports meet proceeded as usual.

The autumn breeze was particularly noticeable today, as if true autumn had finally arrived, carrying a gentle, soothing quality. Shen Nian instinctively scanned the area. Chen Qiuyu was sitting under a tree, scrolling on his phone. Good, no trouble there.

"It’s so nice today. Feels like autumn is really here—golden light everywhere, crisp air, red lotuses on green water. We won’t have to suffer the heat anymore."

The soft voice was unmistakably Li Shiyan’s. She had appeared out of nowhere and was already clinging to Xia Yanchun’s arm, reciting a line from Yan Shu’s Lian Li Zhi: Autumn Light Fills the Eyes.

Much more cultured than Chen Qiuyu’s self-indulgent angst poetry.

Nearby, Chen Qiuyu sneezed quietly and hunched his shoulders. Was he already catching a cold just as the weather turned cooler? His body was just too frail.

Then again, it was only natural for an incomplete body missing a piece and having its soul partially extracted to be weak.

What, was he discriminating against appendixes now?

……

During evening self-study, Su Kexi came into the classroom to announce the monthly exam results. Normally, she’d just post them at the back of the room, but perhaps in a good mood, she projected the scores onto the screen instead.

The class erupted into chatter.

"Alright, settle down. Look at your own scores and pick someone who scored higher as a goal. Learn from them. It’s senior year—time to wake up if you’ve been sleeping through class."

By the third year of high school, a student’s academic trajectory was pretty much set. After the first mock exam, their scores wouldn’t fluctuate much, no matter how hard they tried. Teachers knew this—dark horses were rare, and if students didn’t wake up now, even potential dark horses would end up as… well, workhorses.

Shen Nian was one such dark horse. He’d woken up early, put in the effort, and his progress was undeniable. Su Kexi often wanted to praise him, but the moment she remembered him openly studying other subjects during her class, she swallowed her words.

Shen Nian had improved a lot, but she couldn’t bring herself to tell the other students to emulate him. Who knew what kind of bad habits they might pick up?

Still, while she refrained from praising him in her own class, she had no qualms about doing so in others. Such a shining example was too good not to share.

Shen Nian propped his chin on his hand, scanning the rankings from top to bottom.

1st place: Xia Yanchun, 714 points (Did she just unlock cheat codes? No more pretending?)

3rd place: Li Shiyan, 666 points (Mystical lucky number—is she the goddess of luck or what?)

6th place: Chen Dong, 642 points (My boy Chen Dong has the makings of an emperor.)

10th place: Shen Nian, 626 points (A little boost doesn’t count as cheating, right?)

13th place: Chen Qiuyu, 599 points (Should’ve studied math harder.)

21st place: Ma Mingfan, 558 points (Still got time to slack off, bro?)

……

……

51st place: Huang Chen, 310 points (Made progress—terrifying.)

Shen Nian: Trying not to laugh.

They’d all entered with the same admission score—how did some end up with 600-700 points while others barely scraped 300?

If the education bureau hadn’t banned elite classes and Olympiad training groups, Huang Chen wouldn’t even have the chance to badmouth him.

But then again, without that rule, he wouldn’t have gotten to stick close to Xia Yanchun at school either. Hmm… maybe those special classes were better off canceled.

He searched for Lan Fukai’s name next.

Chinese: 128, Math: 76, English: 135, Science: 210. Total: 549.

Wait, bro, where are you? I can’t see you in the top 20—are you too short or something?

What’s this? Did I just pass you? Must’ve been a blind spot. Guess I’ll just roll right over you—take that, loser!

♪We’re all studying hard…♫

Up front, Lan Fukai was also checking his results.

No one could guarantee they wouldn’t slip. His drop in performance this time was within normal range. Xia Yanchun and Li Shiyan were still as impressive as ever.

Hold on—was there something odd in the top 10?

Lan Fukai rubbed his eyes, unsure. He looked again.

When he finally processed Shen Nian’s rank and score, his vision darkened.

Wait, how did Shen Nian jump to 10th place? 626 points?

English score… 106?

What the hell? Weren’t his scores always below mine before? This time, he pulled ahead by nearly 80 points?

Is this not cheating?

Shen Nian didn’t really care about Lan Fukai—just a clown.

Hanging out with Xia Yanchun didn’t affect him at all. People who randomly told others who they could or couldn’t be friends with were the worst. So annoying.

A system notification popped up—long time no see.

[Main Quest: When the Pupils No Longer Tremble (Completed)

Reward: 1000 gold, Title: Trial of Faint Light (Slight EXP gain increase)]

[New Main Quest Unlocked: Ascend to Intermediate Adventurer!

Slay 10 intermediate monsters (0/10)

Reward: 5000 gold, Title: Intermediate Adventurer (+2 Charm, +2 Stamina)]

The title equipped automatically. Shen Nian was surprised to find that two titles could be active at once.

Wait, that’s OP.

System, are you actually amazing?

I acknowledge you.

From the description, Trial of Faint Light was just a grinding title in the other world—something to speed up leveling.

In real life... it would probably just increase proficiency or something like that. Proficiency is, in a way, a form of experience.

Damn.

【High Spirits】 boosts endurance, 【Faint Light Training】 enhances proficiency—effort is covered, talent is covered. Is the system trying to manually craft a prodigy or what?

.

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