Victor was seven years old now. He was truly an apical genius. His talent was unheard of. At the age of one, Victor could speak coherently. At the age of two, he begun to read and write. At the age of three, he could not only run around on two feet unassisted, he could discuss topics like politics and war with a maturity ten times his age! It was truly shocking!
Right now, Victor was seven. Next year, he would have to report to the nearest city for the basic examination. Those who did well could join a school, where they would be educated to serve the country in various ways. Victor’s father, Regis, was part of the military before he was exiled. Victor’s mother worked in the palace as a maid before she caught Regis’s eyes and they married. However, their happiness was short-lived, as Regis’s family was implicated in a political scheme, and their whole family was exiled to different places.
Victor did not wish to join the military. He knew he was special, there was something about him that made himself different from his peers. He knew too much, and spoke too much like an adult. He was a genius and he knew it, but it did not make him proud as his parents taught him well. His mother taught him how to carry himself in front of others, and his father taught him how to use a sword. Although he learnt from the both of them, Victor wanted to be more than just a servant, more than just a fighter in an army. He wanted to be much more, but he just didn’t know what.
But, Victor knew the world was big. Jinshuang continent was huge, and there were unexplored regions unknown to anyone. The part of the world he lived in was truly small, like a speck of dust when compared to the world. Still, to his parents, the Goshin Empire was their whole world. Few had gone out of the empire. The part they resided in was under one of the eighteen kingdoms that made up the empire. The Hong Kingdom was where they lived and worked before they were exiled, and it was considered as one of the bottom powers within the empire. That made the village they were currently living in even more insignificant in the grand scheme of things! Victor’s heart burned whenever he thought of the upcoming examination.
I’ll surely become the top scorer and join the imperial school! I will achieve great things! Victor’s thoughts were filled with ambition.
Three months later, on the third day of the new year, many families brought children to the capital of the Hong Kingdom. The capital was surrounded by the call city walls. It's wealth was obvious and the roads were crowded with both nobles and peasant. The examination meant that be it you were part of a noble family, peasant family or even just an orphan, you had equal chances in obtaining great results, that would represent a great future.
Victor entered the city with Vanessa and Regis in a carriage. Though they may be exiled nobles, they were still part of the nobility, and that had its privileges. As they neared the testing palace near the center of the capital, they could see two different queues forming, where children collected the proof of entry. However, behind the two counters that had massive queues in front of them, there was a separate counter set up, where only a few individuals were queing. Victor was curious who the queue was for, as of the other two, one was for nobles and one was for peasants and orphans.
“Mom? Who is that counter for?”
Following Victor’s eyes, Vanessa let out a gasp when she saw the counter.
“Victor! Don’t look at that counter! That’s for the royal family. It seems like the royal clans of the Hong Kingdom have children joining the examination this year!”
In Victor’s heart, he wondered if he could beat their scores. Surely, as children of the royal clans, they were tutored by the very best. Still, he was confident for some unknown reason, as though he was undefeatable was how he felt.
Victor and his parents waited for about 3 hours before they received a silver medallion, which was his entry proof. Without it, one could not enter the testing palace.
Just as they were walking into the grand waiting hall within the huge testing palace grounds, a tall lean man intercepted Victor and his family. The tall lean man was not alone, he too was walking with his family, and his child was a chubby girl who put on a haughty air in front of them.
"Haha, I didn't expect to see you here Regis. It's been nearly a decade since we met." As the stranger said this, his eyes glinted with malice, and he raised his chin as though talking to inferiors.
"I was wondering where the dog stench was coming from. So it was you Gerome!" Regis immediately replied in a vicious manner. It was obvious to Victor that there was bad blood between the two.
Gerome's face turned ugly to behold. Who could stand being mocked in such a manner in front of his own child!
"Hmph. We'll see who has the last laugh today Regis! Our house has employed the best tutors in the North Duchy, your son will have no chance since you are too poor to even hire the lousiest of tutors! Haha, if your son can beat my daughter's test scores, I'll pay you a thousand gold pieces! Do you dare?!" Gerome was smug knowing that his daughter's knowledge was probably in the top hundred at her current age. She was the most talented individual in their North Duchy Blizzard family, her smarts unseen since their ancestor who was the top scorer in the basic examination established the North Duchy under the Hong Kingdom.
But to his surprise, Regis not only did not reject the bet, he countered it, saying, "Do I dare? Hahaha, it should be whether you dare to or not. I'll be taking your one thousand gold then!"
With that, Regis brought Victor and Vanessa away to the entry area in a confident manner. Gerome was stunned, he did not expect such a straightforward acceptance of his bet. Could it be that his boy is a born genius? There is no way he could've tutored his son in that backwater village he was exiled to. And God knows that both he and his wife are not knowledgeable to compare with even the lowest tutors! Where does his confidence come from?
In the next few hours before the exams start, the children were brought into the great hall within the testing palace. The place was massive, and had three levels, build like a pyramid. Though there were no distinctions in class in the results, prior to the exams, peasants still occupied the lower hall, nobles on the second level and only the royal clans could take the test in the top level. During these few hours, news had spread that one of the heir contenders, Gerome Blizzard had put one thousand gold as the bet with the fallen noble Regis on their children's test results! A thousand gold was definitely not a small sum! It had to be known that a peasant family only needed 5 gold pieces to live comfortable for a year! And gold pieces were the only common currency across the Goshin Empire. The smaller denominations were under the kingdoms autonomous control. Many wanted to know the results, but they did not think that Regis's boy stood a chance, after all, he was exiled and could not possibly hire tutors.
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But Victor did not know all these. He only felt many staring at him when he entered the second level's testing hall. The hall was full of other noble brats too, but Victor did not feel anything but confidence when he took a seat.
"GOOONNG!"
The loud sound of the metal Gong being hit resounded through all three levels of the testing palace's hall. Everyone immediately fell silent, and their eyes all shown anticipation at what would happen soon.
An old wizened man stood at a raised stage in front of this hall. He opened his mouth to speak.
"There is to be no cheating! I, Official Wy from the Imperial Capital of the Goshin Empire hereby declare the examination in Hong Kingdom's testing hall to begin!"
Victor immediately flipped the paper on his table. On it were three questions.
Question 1:
"Fortune with no effort,
Knowledge without restraint,
Pleasure without conscience,
Politics without principles."
Question 2:
The battle of Gohan in the Second Emperor's reign could have been won, if only it had not rained that day.
Question 3:
Compassion is the basis of a character.
Victor finally understood why people described the basic examination as extremely difficult. He shuddered to even think of the higher level examinations. All three questions weren't questions. They were mere statements, and Victor was expected to write an essay on them. He had no qualms about the second question, as it was one of the most debated battles in Goshin Empire's history. But the other two questions were simply too hard, for anyone else that is. To Victor, though he didn't know whether his morals and philosophy were the correct answer, he was confident that his thinking was mature enough to answer these questions.
Fortune, knowledge, pleasure and politics... It would be unwise to generalise. Inherited fortune simply meant that the heavens granted you luck to be born in a rich family. Unlimited knowledge would aid mankind if only if used correctly. Pleasure without conscience simply means the corruption of an individual, a beast in human skin. And politics... Rulers are expected to have great principles, but if he doesn't, then it is the people's responsibility to overthrow the tyrant.
Victor's quick but complicated thoughts fleshed out his essays, and he wrote with ease. On the stage, the Official Wy swept his eyes across the hall, and he saw Victor writing with a smiling face. Official Wy frowned. Either the boy was extremely talented, or he was just writing nonsense.
Nonetheless, Victor completed the first two questions extremely quickly, but the length of his essays were above average. Now he was pondering the question he considered the hardest.
Compassion? More like naïveté... But is this the right answer they are looking for?
Victor read widely, and he found in old tales of heroes and Devils that being compassionate could mean being killed. In life, compassion could only be afforded by the strong, the absolute. Only Gods and Emperors of the land could afford to be compassionate!
I guess I'll just write both sides. Compassion was a great ideal, and the flip side that compassion is too full of idealism. I'll conclude saying that compassion can only be given when one's position is absolute! A perfect answer, Victor thought.
Victor finished the final essay. He was done. Immediately, he put his hand up for his essays to be collected, he had no need to check, he was confident.
Official Wy saw that Victor put up his hand and personally walked towards him as he was the first to completed the exam.
"Young man, are you taking this exam seriously?" Official Wy was being kind here, after all the exams decided one's future.
"Thank you for your concern elder. But I am confident in my answers. Thank you for the great honour you have granted me by personally collecting my answers," Victor said. Then he stood up, bowed and left the hall. Barely anyone glanced at him, they were all focusing on the exam as there was a dateline of 8 hours to complete it.
Official Wy brought the answer back to the stage. Flipping through Victor's essays, he was stunned. The answers were as if it was written by an old scholar! What a genius! I have to report this to the Prince, this boy will surely be the top scorer this year, perhaps even across the whole empire!
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My attempt at XianXia, inspiration taken from Meng Hao and Nie Li .