Chapter 266: Competitor
“Don’t push yourself. The last three questions are fairly difficult. If you start feeling dizzy when looking at the circuits, just give up.”
The teacher repeated the same reminder to the rest of the class. “The three circuits about to be projected are too complex for you right now. If you feel mentally exhausted while trying to analyze them, stop immediately.”
Even when they were only projections and not the actual circuits, more complex structures could still cause dizziness or temporary fatigue if a weaker extraordinary tried to comprehend them. If one insisted on forcing the analysis, it would result in a minor backlash—nothing too severe, but unpleasant nonetheless.
In short, not overreaching was the best policy.
“Understood. Thank you for the reminder, Teacher.”
The transfer student was remarkably polite. Every gesture and word carried a gentle air about her. The more the teacher looked at her, the more pleasing she seemed.
When three new circuits of higher difficulty appeared before Xu Zhi, she finally sensed a trace of challenge.
She could no longer identify the type at a glance. The circuits were more intricate now, their patterns denser than before. A single misjudgment was easy amid such tangled lines. She had to carefully sift through the interwoven textures to pinpoint the segment that represented its core type.
This was precisely why extraordinary individuals needed to concentrate—and why mental exhaustion could set in. Every line within a circuit carried extraordinary energy. To stare at it directly, to observe and even attempt to analyze it, required a certain level of extraordinary resistance. These were not ordinary patterns; attempting to deconstruct them within one’s mind consumed mental strength.
As Xu Zhi immersed herself in analysis, she often did not truly understand the principles behind these more complex circuits—she had never studied them, after all. But that didn’t matter. She could use a more clumsy approach: expend more mental energy and methodically compare each strand, peeling them apart one by one like exhaustive enumeration, until she identified the hidden core and the pattern that defined its type.
Thanks to her formidable mental strength, she rapidly reviewed every detail of the circuit in her mind. After roughly five or six minutes, she finally located the key point.
“Teacher, this circuit is offensive in nature—Corrosion, correct?”
Her voice carried from the podium.
Most of the class had just been thrown into dizziness from attempting to analyze the circuit. Caught off guard, they suddenly heard someone announce the answer?
You’ve got to be kidding.
They were still stuck at the stage of not even understanding the question itself. Compared to earlier, they couldn’t even comprehend the “prompt” now. It was complete confusion.
“Correct.”
The teacher had to take a breath before replying.
She actually solved it?
What the teacher didn’t know was that most of Xu Zhi’s time had been spent determining the circuit’s “type,” not locating its core. Finding the core was far easier for her than identifying the type.
After that, the process repeated. Xu Zhi required roughly eight minutes per circuit. Though each took a slightly different amount of time, the total for all three did not exceed half an hour.
She had truly solved every circuit before the bell rang.
“Teacher, don’t forget to credit my points.”
The model student smiled brightly at her.
As expected—her intuition had been right. Xu Zhi really had been aiming for the credits.
After finishing the problems and reminding the teacher about the points, Xu Zhi stepped down from the podium calmly. Even after she returned to her seat, the classroom remained utterly silent.
Somewhat puzzled, she turned to look at her classmates—only to find most of them wearing expressions as though their worldviews had just shattered.
Well… in a sense, her classmates were all “heaven’s favored” too. Perhaps they had always been the ones crushing others. This might be their first time experiencing a dimensional gap like this.
It was fine. Everyone had a first time. Once it happened often enough, they’d get used to it.
After collecting the circuits, the teacher hesitated, then took out the three circuits from the first question and gave a brief explanation to the rest of the class.
After all, she hadn’t prepared extra material. Who could have expected the circuits wouldn’t even last until the end of class?!
When the bell rang, she decisively packed up the circuits—even though she hadn’t finished explaining them—and refused to drag class by even a minute. Before leaving, she stopped by Xu Zhi’s seat under the pretext of “transferring credits” and added her contact information.
Once the teacher left, the previously silent classroom instantly erupted into noise. And it was obvious who the center of that noise was—amid the chatter, many gazes drifted toward Xu Zhi.
By now, quite a few students had already rushed onto the academy forum to vent about what had just happened.
[Who understands this? Lived more than a decade, first time someone has crushed me into utter worthlessness.]
[What do I do if I suddenly feel like trash?]
[What did she grow up eating to be this insane? Has she been studying circuits since the womb?]
[What happened? What happened? Is there gossip? Let me in on it!]
[Honestly, no need for those few to argue over who’s the most talented freshman anymore. Actually, this stopped being a debate days ago—we just didn’t fully realize it until now. She’s simply on a different level.]
[Long story short, that transfer student solved the graduation-level circuit questions in one go during practice class. Three in a row.]
[Yeah right.]
[Make up something more believable.]
[I’ve done that in my dreams too, so sure, I believe it.]
[One person lying is one thing. Would an entire class lie together? She really is kind of outrageous. I’ve never seen anything this outrageous in my life.]
[Insider info: the transfer student is Insight Rank Four.]
[Only Insight Rank Four?]
[What do you mean only? Insight Rank Four as a first-year is already pretty good.]
[How does Insight Rank Four’s mental strength support solving graduation-level questions? Are you guys joking?]
[Who knows. Maybe this is what they call a genius.]
[Someone’s going to be nervous~ The circuit competition champion that was basically guaranteed just flew away~]
The news released by the first-year special recruitment class exploded across the forum, turning it upside down. Xu Zhi’s name grew even more famous—if that were possible. She had already been well known for her entrance exam results; now her impression among those in the Inner Academy deepened further.
Now everyone knew that first-year had produced a monster. And on the very first day of class, she had confirmed that her entrance test results reflected her true strength. It was outrageous. Even upperclassmen began to feel a subtle sense of crisis.
After all, many competitions did not distinguish between grades. They had always relied on being older—having more time and knowledge—to suppress lower years. Especially freshmen, who were almost never considered competitors.
Now that a freshman who exceeded specifications had appeared, she might very well squeeze into positions and credits that would otherwise belong to them. That was hardly good news.
Fortunately, that freshman was only Insight Rank Four. No matter how extraordinary her talent in circuits might be, her rank was too low. She was destined not to pose too great a threat—for now.
