Ch.150145 – Midterm Exams

# Academy Exams and Streaming Return

No matter how notorious the Academy’s exams were, elementary division was still elementary division.

There were exactly 7 subjects to test on. In the magic department: “Mana Injection,” “Rune Language-Type A,” and “Basics of Synthesis,” plus the usual subjects similar to other schools like Korean, Math, Social Studies, and Science.

Of course, the first three were overwhelmingly important, and from second grade onward, all non-magic subjects were graded on an absolute scale, so students were completely focused on drawing magic circles.

Currently, the kids in our class were each holding a notebook, sitting in a circle around Si-hoo and me. Someone had even pushed all the surrounding desks to one side of the classroom so they wouldn’t get in the way.

“Si-hoo, have you been doing this role since last year? That’s impressive.”

“It’s nothing…”

“Okay, next. Se-bin, what don’t you understand?”

“Um, this part.”

This was the final sprint study session right before midterms.

“That’s about primary injection. Anyone else who doesn’t understand this, come over here and listen. I’m not going to explain the same content twice later.”

Three or four students stood up and sat down right next to us.

I started supplementary explanations, holding the textbook while sitting in a chair with a higher viewpoint than the children.

Even though this was the Academy where academically gifted children enrolled, and even in the A class that only the top 25% could enter, it wasn’t natural for all students to keep up with the homeroom teacher’s lessons.

While some students yawned or became distracted because they already knew the content, others just blinked their eyes, not understanding anything at all.

Still, the kids all had strong willingness to learn, and Yoon Si-hoo told me that until last year, he gathered students from his class before every exam to study together.

His efforts weren’t in vain, as could be seen from the current composition of the 2nd grade A class. Apparently, nearly half of them came from Si-hoo’s 1st grade A class.

This year, I decided to help the kids with their midterm studies alongside Si-hoo.

“Here in the textbook, you can see the optimal injection graph is all squiggly, right? What would happen if Se-bin injected mana into this magic circle with the same intensity?”

“Hmm… I’m not sure.”

“See this protruding part here? This much mana would completely dissipate. Look carefully, the exam question will probably be like this. If you’re given a graph like this, first draw a straight line here.”

“Okay, okay.”

“But if you draw it straight like this, too much mana is wasted, right? So you’ll rotate this line counterclockwise. Liiiike this.”

I rotated a 15cm ruler diagonally against the textbook, assuming it was an injection equivalence line.

“That’s much cleaner now, isn’t it? The exam might ask about the area of this protrusion, or it might ask about the starting and ending points. To calculate those…”

This was actually a unit that should require prior knowledge of functions and linear regression.

But here, they skipped all that and jumped straight to applications, so students who still lacked the basic concepts might not understand this part.

They should learn all the math first and proceed step by step, but whoever designed this curriculum was in such a hurry that they skipped everything and just rushed through the magic curriculum.

What’s the point of problems that can be solved without knowing functions? Students end up not understanding and just moving on to the next unit.

Why do people always focus only on results?

It was disappointing that even I, teaching this, couldn’t explain it any better.

“Whew, that’s mostly done.”

“NoName, this too!”

Seo-ri came over late with her Rune Language book open, calling out loudly.

“Rune Language?”

“Yeah, I can’t memorize it well.”

“I can’t help you with that…”

“Please help me memorize it! My head feels like it’s going to explode!”

Memorization is something you have to do yourself.

Han Seo-ri turned gloomy and trudged back. But there was really nothing I could do.

Si-hoo seemed to have finished his explanations too, as he stretched and twisted his body left and right.

“Don’t you want to skip grades, Yoon Si-hoo? This seems too easy for you right now.”

Si-hoo tilted his head at my question.

“…? I’m going to 4th grade next year.”

“Oh really? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Don’t tell me you didn’t apply for grade skipping? The deadline was last week.”

“Was it?”

“Wow.”

So that was a thing.

“It’s fine, I wasn’t really planning to skip grades anyway.”

Whether I learned elementary school content or high school content, I wasn’t really learning much new anyway.

The kids might not understand, but living a life appropriate for your age can actually be a pretty good way to live.

The Academy isn’t just for learning, and if I’m curious about something, the internet is well-developed these days, making it easy to look things up on my own.

Plus, Professor Cheon, an authority on Korean magic, is at home.

“Why? I think you could adapt perfectly well to middle school division right now.”

“What, middle school division?”

I immediately wrapped my arm around Si-hoo’s neck and squeezed tight.

“Do I look like I only have middle school level skills? I’m a bit disappointed.”

“No, the high school seniors learn really difficult stuff!”

“High school? Just high school?”

“What answer are you looking for?!”

“Hmm? Maybe you should think about that yourself?”

It’s truly a thousand-year regret that I can’t freely use magic.

In my previous life, I would have immediately shown a hellfire spell on the playground. Though with this body, it would be a bit difficult due to insufficient mana capacity.

“Si-hoo, if you go up to 4th grade alone, what about Yu-na? Won’t she be left alone? Don’t you feel sorry for her?”

“…I can’t help it. My mom wants me to graduate from elementary division quickly.”

“Hang in there. First loves usually don’t work out anyway.”

“Please stop saying that…!”

His flustered reaction is kind of cute. I should stop teasing him and end with some encouraging words for the upcoming midterms.

“Anyway, good luck on the exams.”

“Yeah, you too, NoName…”

Why are you looking at me like that? Why does this kid dislike me so much?

I swiveled my chair and called out to Yu-na, who was busy memorizing Rune Language.

“Yu-na. Si-hoo says good luck on your exams.”

“Huh? Me…?”

“Hey, when did I! I never said that!”

“You didn’t? Then were you thinking you hope Yu-na does poorly on the exams?”

“No, that’s not…!”

“Well, good luck to everyone.”

* * *

The participants for the DDAGABDAE would be announced on Wednesday, May 17th.

I had about three weeks left to familiarize myself with the rules of World of Arsheria.

After Story Mode, I couldn’t even look at the “World” in World of Arsheria without getting a headache, so I didn’t turn on the game or stream. I did play some LoL though.

If I hadn’t posted updates on Tgether, there might have been people using all sorts of methods to break into my house, just as Sia warned.

[Private Room]

“Hi Adella. What were you doing?”

“Hehehe. Hehe. Oh hi unni! Did your exams go well?”

When I entered the private room, the first thing I saw was a cat scratching her thigh vigorously while sticking to the bed.

“What are you watching?”

“A web drama! It’s just at the kiss scene, but oh, you shouldn’t watch it! You’re only seven years old!”

“I’m not interested anyway.”

“Unni, do you only have documentaries in your playlist? What’s so fun about watching ‘Fermat’s Last Theorem’ and stuff like that…”

“It’s interesting, okay?”

She’s adapting too quickly, isn’t she?

After saving her from a life-threatening situation, Adella has perfectly evolved into a proper freeloader who just wastes in-game currency.

“Why did you change the interior again?”

“The room was too gloomy! I like bright colors. Especially yellow and pink!”

“That’s my money, you know.”

“Come on, I know you’re rich now, unni! I saw it all on VTube. Oh…! They’re doing it! Ugh, I can’t watch them smashing lips, kyaaah!”

How is this an artificial intelligence? She’s human.

Human adaptability is terrifying. I need to quickly give her some work to do something productive, or she’ll become a useless person in no time.

But I didn’t log into virtual reality today to scold her.

“I’m going to start streaming now, is that okay?”

“Oh, now? Yeah, sure, go ahead.”

“What’s okay about leaving underwear thrown on the floor?”

“Ah! When did this fall here!”

The space had expanded from 3 pyeong to 10 pyeong, but with one more person, it didn’t look that empty.

It feels better than before with the human presence… I’m not sure.

[Streaming starts: 0:00:01 – NoName]

[World of Arsheria – Placement]

[Broadcast time – 0:00:01]

[Viewers – 1]

Today, I didn’t play any music and just waited for viewers to come in.

Instead, I took out the now-familiar whiteboard from my inventory and wrote down a formula in front of the camera.

[x! + 1 = y^2]

I came across this formula by chance on VTube, and it seemed appropriate as a brain warm-up before gaming.

Since I suddenly turned on the stream without any announcement, viewers came in noticeably slower, but the chat energy was no different from before.

-How many days have you been on break!

-I missed you so much ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ

-GodName! Ultra GodName! Super Ultra GodName! Gigantamax Name!

-Please stream daily, we’ll give you lots of money

-Challenger! Challenger! Challenger! Challenger!

-Is she Challenger? She’s still unranked though?

└ Not in WoA, she played Legacy of Legend during her break and hit Challenger

└ Wait, why lol instead of WoA? ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-You don’t need to interact with chat, just turn on the stream when you play games, please!!!!!

“Hello everyone, it’s been a while, hasn’t it?”

“Yay! I missed you too, guys!”

Following my greeting came Adella’s seductive voice. With my gaze fixed on the screen, I casually raised one hand to greet everyone.

-It’s been so damn long, teacher!

-I was dying to see you^^

-Adella is the best

-Wow kya pya

-Adella dolphin pants woo!

-This is streaming, this is the life

-What are you watching so intently?ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Your posture is like a 10-year unemployed personㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

-Why the sudden math problem? Are you giving a lecture today, teacher?

└ A lecture from a middle school girl ㄷㄷㄷㄷㄷ

-Why are there so many foreigners here? Like 30%?

└ I’m not a foreigner

└ Me neither and I also like kimchi

└ Sorry, actually I’m Ukrainian~

└ ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ

“Would you all like to try solving it? The answer is easy.”

-44444444

-Are they all integers?

-Yeah, x is 4, that’s right

-x=5, y=11 works too?

└ Mental math so fast ㄷㄷ

-How many answers are there?

“Oh, by the way, x is 4, 5, and 7.”

-Ah spoiler!

-Goblin

-Oh, 7 works too

-Is that all then?

-What’s going on?

-What’s that symbol?

“The important part isn’t finding the integer solutions, but proving that there are no other integer solutions besides those three.”

-This is profound number theory

-It looks super easy

-NoName, can you prove this?

-She’s in middle school but knows number theory? ㄷㄷ impressive

└ Dealing with integers doesn’t make it all number theory;;

-But why are there more letters than numbers, teacher…?

[Broadcast time – 0:10:19]

[Viewers – 1803]

“Hmm… this is taking longer than I thought.”

Even after filling the entire board, it feels like I’m not even halfway there.

It seemed like a simple solution in my head, but…

“I’ll need to split this into two cases.”

I erased the entire board and started fresh with black marker on the pristine white surface.

“If we define non-zero coprime integers A, B, C and split it like this. Aha.”

Since I was writing everything by hand instead of using magic circles, it took some time, but it got easier after that.

I just had to copy the calculations I’d already completed.

[Broadcast time – 0:19:37]

[Viewers – 4913]

“So we can solve this without using Stirling’s approximation, right? Indeed, there are no solutions other than 4, 5, and 7.”

[‘MorningLover’ donated 10,000 won!]

-Teacher, please just play the game, I’m getting dizzy and going crazyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy

“I was actually planning to start ranked games today. I need to take the placement matches.”

Five placement matches to determine my tier.

My test was just beginning.