The start of a relaxing melody slowly resounds from Feng Ye’s phone a few minutes prior to 7:00AM. As the melody progresses, its volume slowly increases until it reaches its maximum volume. At this time, the phone’s text to speech reads out the time.

“Good morning. It is currently 7:00AM. Today, you have a scheduled event at 8:30AM.”

Feng Ye’s eyelids flutter open. He reaches out for his phone and snoozes the alarm. Immediately, he orders breakfast to be scheduled to come up in 10 minutes as heads into the washroom to fully wake up and complete his regular hygiene-related tasks.

As breakfast arrives, Feng Ye reviews his itinerary for the day from the booklet that was provided to him.

7:45AM - Transportation from Lodging to Examination Centre

8:00AM - Registration and Verification of Examinee

8:30AM - Examination Begins

5:00PM - Rankings and Scores Released

It also provides details on how the examination centre operates. Each examinee will write on a special type of electronic paper. This electronic paper has a design similar to a tablet, however, its differences lies in its width. This electronic paper is about the thickness of a stack of 5 sheets of A4 paper. Every new page of the examination can be accessed by swiping right. A stylus is provided which will be used to write answers with. When completed, a staff will receive the paper from the student and submit it to a machine which converts what is written into data. The data is fed directly into a supercomputer which evaluates and ranks each test. Although staff can access the scores after the examinee has written, no scores are released until 5:00PM.

Feng Ye, after familiarizing himself with the itinerary, places his phone in his pocket and heads out to the lobby of the lodging. The lobby looks like a standard hotel lobby with a reception desk and lounge area. It is quite populated today as it is filled with examinees all waiting for transportation. Some are reviewing silently by themselves, while others form groups actively discussing topics.

Here, he sees Haruta, Akihiko, and Yotsuba who look well rested and ready.

Haruta is first to notice Feng Ye and waves. “Hey Feng-kun, over here!” Akihiko and Yotsuba also turn their vision to Feng Ye.

“Hello, you all seem quite ready. How are you all feeling today?” Feng Ye inquiries with a smile.

“I’m ready. The past two days I have gone into hyperstudy mode. I believe I can get admitted.” Haruta, who is all smiles, answers.

“I am alright, and well prepared. How about yourself?” Akihiko replies. Yotsuba grins and nods. “I am also.”

“I am prepared as well. It seems like we are all confident. At 5:00PM, I expect to see all our names within the top 50.”

“Of course.” Akihiko nods. The group walks out of the lobby with many other examinees to a nearby subway stop. A subway is stationed here, but not yet allowing entry.

The time displays 7:40AM and examinees all enter the subway which travels directly to the test center. All examinees in this lodging will write in the same test location. Other lodgings are assigned to different locations. The group follows the rest into the subway. As the time becomes 7:46AM, the subway starts its journey,

At 8:00AM, the group has already gotten off the subway and have separated to be registered. Feng Ye is given an electronic paper and stylus upon registration. He was thoroughly checked for any items on his body. In the presence of any items that could potentially lead to cheating, the staff confiscates it. Upon completion of the exam, examinees can go back to this registration area to regain their items. Prior to leaving the subway, Feng Ye stored his phone into the system storage space. Thus, he has no items and successfully enters the testing area.

The testing area is quite large as it holds up to 500 examinees. A large screen is displayed at the front which displays a countdown that is yet to be started. Each section has an allotted amount of time. As there are five sections, each section only has 90 minutes for completion. Every examinee will be finished at 4:00PM. The total test time is 7.5 hours.

As the examinees enter the room with the electronic paper and stylus, the room fills up quickly. Each quickly finds their designated seat. As the examinees are all seated, the time displays 8:30AM and an electronic female voice resounds.

“Examinees, you may begin.”

As the voice resounds, each examinees electronic paper displays the examination and all features become accessible.

Feng Ye glances at the examination in front of him and realizes all the topics are quite simple. However, he knew that he should try not to be too noticeable, but he needed to guarantee that he would be in the top 50. Feng Ye consciously makes errors to ensure his score lowers in the chemistry and biology sections. In his opinion, this examination seems to be quite simple. Perhaps, he had forgotten that he originally was also in exams before crossing over and that the material was completely fresh. Additionally, as he had spent a year of university going over these concepts, it was obvious that such examination wouldn’t baffle him.

As the time reaches 5:00PM, all electronic papers turn dim and examinees can no longer alter their answers with the stylus. The staff arrive to receive the electronic paper and stylus as all the examinees file out of the room to a specified lobby and cafe with complimentary meals and wifi.

Feng Ye arrives at an empty table and lets out a yawn. “Wow, 7.5 hours really takes a toll. Hopefully, the intentional errors I left are enough to prevent me from reaching over the top 25 rankings.”

A short blond haired guy notices Feng Ye sitting by himself at a table of five. He approaches and asks, “ Hey, do you mind if I take this seat.”

“No problem.” Feng Ye smiles and continues to wait while looking at the continuous arrival of more examinees.

“Thanks. How was the exam?” The blond haired individual inquiries as he takes a seat.

“I think it was fairly straight forward. It should be alright.” Feng Ye replied in a perfunctory manner.

The blond haired individual sitting at his table then stares with widened eyes as if not believing what Feng Ye just had said. “Really? I found it very difficult… I hope I can obtain in the top 100.”

“Oh..” Feng Ye thought something didn’t suit. Was the test actually hard?

“Hopefully, we both can get admitted. My name is Will. Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too, I am Feng. Once we are accepted, perhaps we can meet again. I have matter, I’ll see you around.” Feng Ye replies with his introduction and then notices Haruta, Akihiko, and Yotsuba. He then gets up and approaches the trio.

“Hey all, how was the examination? Judging from your looks it seems ass you had been robbed.” Feng Ye jokingly greeted the three.

“The test was much more difficult than expected. However, I believe getting into the top 50 should be no problem.” Yotsuba replies. “It seems this year, there was an exponential increase in difficulty. Quite odd.”

A depressed looking Haruta sighs, “Yeah… quite unfortunate that it is our year. Some of those physics questions covered rotation. So difficult..”

Feng Ye thinks to himself, “ Well… gg. It seems like it wasn’t supposed to be easy this year. Although, it is apparently a difficult examination, there should be some individuals who scored high. Hopefully, higher than me.”

Akihiko also nods then remains silent.

“Well, for now- let’s find a place to relax while we wait for the results and rankings.” Feng Ye then leads the group back to the original table where he had met Will. There was no sign of Will as the table of five is vacant.

“Quickly, let’s occupy this table.” Haruta exclaims as he quickened his pace. The group of four sits down and relaxes while awaiting the results.

Around the group, are other examinees who are lined up for the complimentary food services, or just chatting over other tables. Some wander about worriedly, others have gone outside for some fresh air. At 5:00PM, the same electronic female voice resounds.

“Rankings and scores have been released.” The monitors that were previously all showing the weather conditions all have displayed the rankings and results of the top 500. Those who didn’t score within the top 500 did not have their names displayed on the screen.

The screen shows the rank, name and scores in a horizontal row. The rankings show the total score followed by the breakdown of each section. Sections 1-5, respectively, which correspond to English, Chemistry, Biology, Physics, and Mathematics. Each section is out of 100 resulting in a total score of 500. There are some rankings which were eliminated due to ties in the score.

Feng Ye takes a look at the top 50. He continues to scan upwards to the top and doesn’t notice his own name. He does, however, manage to find Haruta, Akihiko, and Yotsuba’s ranks though.

Rank

Name

Total Score

S1: ENG

S2: CHEM

S3: BIO

S4: PHY

S5: MATH

42

Yotsuba Reo

389

85

90

80

64

70

43

Will Stade

382

83

64

83

77

75

44

Kuzato Kirigaya

381

82

85

62

71

81

45

Akihiko Tiandu

370

87

72

61

70

80

45

Akane Rui

370

85

70

75

65

75

47

Aika Kabuto

368

90

85

70

56

67

48

Thomas Wen

359

70

55

78

85

71

49

Zhang Yui

349

69

71

69

71

69

50

Haruta Yoshida

348

71

69

81

55

72

Yotsuba managed to obtain rank 42, while Akihiko was able to tie for rank 45. Haruta also managed to obtain rank 50. Thus, it seems all three are able to go to Kami Institute. Looking at the scores though, Feng Ye frowns. Such low scores, it seems like many people actually failed. Feng Ye continues to go up the ranking and cannot find his name. While he is searching, around him are individuals celebrating with exclamations of joy while others weep bitterly about their failure.

“Where is my name?” He thought. As he starts looking at the top 10, nearby, Haruta exclaims.

“F-Feng-kun, how in the world….?” He looks at Feng Ye as though he is a monster. Yotsuba and Akihiko who show similar expressions also glance at Feng Ye.

“What?” Feng Ye asks.

“Look at rank 1.” Yotsuba answers while obviously startled.

Feng Ye takes a look at the top 10 rankings and is dumbfounded. “This must be a joke.”

Rank

Name

Total Score

S1: ENG

S2: CHEM

S3: BIO

S4: PHY

S5: MATH

1

Feng Ye

476

96

90

90

100

100

2

Tsubaki Aki

450

90

89

97

85

89

3

Tsunade Ren

449

91

90

94

84

90

3

Chu Feng

449

90

90

91

83

95

5

Wu Ya

445

89

96

90

85

95

6

James He

443

87

89

90

84

93

7

Akame Rin

442

93

92

89

82

86

8

Yun Che

441

92

90

92

81

86

8

Alyssa Wu

441

86

93

89

83

90

10

Diana Smith

440

94

91

90

84

81

Staring at his rank 1, the first thing that comes to his mind is… F#$%!

He mutters, “Alexa, play despacito 2…”

“What’s despacito 2?” Haruta confusedly asks.

“Don’t worry about it.” Feng Ye’s expression from the perspective of Haruta, Akihiko, and Yotsuba doesn’t look like one that is rejoicing.

Feng Ye looks to the astonished trio. “I didn’t realize that the physics portion was that bad. I guess it may just be due to luck.”

The three gives looks of despise to Feng Ye obviously not believing in the nonsense of this fellow.

Yotsuba breaks the silence, “At least we all have made it into Kami Institute.”

“Yes, good work everyone. We can still hang out once the school year begins.” Akihiko comments with a rare sentence complimented with a smile.

Examinees who did not find themselves on the ranking show looks of envy at the ones celebrating as they exit the hall to the designated areas for those that have been eliminated.

The lobby empties quickly, only leaving around thirty individuals who all have made it in.

An electronic female voice once again resounds throughout the lobby.

“Congratulations examinees. You have all been admitted to secondary education at Aven Institute of Technology. Please go to the registration desk to obtain information on next steps.”

The thirty so examinees with Feng Ye’s group head to the registration area to pick up their admittance packages. With a congratulations, the staff verify the registration records and scores while handing over a tablet to each examinee.

“Congratulations, here is a congratulatory gift to all successful examinees.This tablet contains all the information of next steps such as the date of the entrance ceremony, residency, benefits, school data, course selection, etc.”

Feng Ye accepts the tablet which seems to be a thinner version of the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 of his previous world. There is a detachable keyboard and charger included in the package. As Feng Ye was recognizes as rank 1, the staff asks that he remains.

“We’ll see you at the entrance ceremony, Feng Ye. Take care until then.” Yotsuba says to Feng Ye with a smile.

“Yes. Haruta, Akihiko, and Yotsuba, I will see you then.” With a wave of farewell, Feng Ye and the trio separate.

Feng Ye follows the staff member to another building that is located deeper within the examination centre.