The afternoon fell upon Finn and he was still in the classroom. Nine teens had challenged him and lost, bringing his total loot to an impressive 19.
After a five-minute pause, his next opponent walked in. It was a short teen with a large belly, with the beginning of a mustache on his upper lip. He wore a bright purple shirt and well fitted blue trousers, a colorful display meant to show off his status.
“This is the final match. State your names.”
“What!?” both teens asked in unison. “I have yet to tire,” the fat kid complained.
“Since participants cannot get injured during theoretical tests, you were afforded a maximum of nine matches. This is the last one,” the examiner explained. He did not expect to be stuck for half a day with just one kid, so he was rather glad it was over.
“Is there any way to continue?” Finn asked. “This rule was not stated anywhere.”
“I’m stating it now,” the man looked annoyed. “I’m sure you nobles aren’t aware of this, but paper isn’t such an abundant commodity that we can afford to use it willy nilly.”
‘But, you sent us pamphlets!’ Finn refrained himself from shouting. He still had the papers they received each morning. Whether for sale or to take back to the village, every piece was precious. ‘I need more rings. And to be confused with a noble...’ Finn looked across the class from him and clicked his tongue.
“State your names,” said the teacher.
“George Lopez,” the fat teen replied, “son of count Lopez.” The sound of that name and the pride with which he said it made Finn’s stomach churn. He too was once rich, but he did not exploit his workers. Bastards like Lopez pissed him off the most, and this world was full of them.
“And you?”
“Mark Adams, a simple farmer.” Finn made eye contact with the examiner, and thankfully he went along with it.
“How will you compete?” he asked.
“Before that,” Finn stood up, “since this is our last match, I propose a wager. My ten rings versus your ten rings. What do you say, sir Lopez?”
“Ha,” the enemy laughed out loud. “You have heart, peasant; I’ll give you that. Do you even know who I am?”
‘A piece of...’ “No. But, I am confident in my studies.”
“Hmph,” George rose to the challenge. “Is this allowed?” he asked the examiner.
The old man held in his smile. He was not a noble, which in this world meant it was almost guaranteed he hated them. He could also predict the outcome of this match.
“If other classes can sanction death matches, then I see nothing wrong with a gentleman’s wager. Proceed.”
[Inside the dormitory]
Since Finn’s performance would decide whether they passed or not, the remaining members of his team waited inside the room. They needed 23 more rings to continue, so the atmosphere was gloomy.
“In a way, the later he gets back the better,” Natalie noted while chewing her nails.
“I really screwed up, didn’t I?” Michael pulled at his hair.
While Natalie moved closer and gave him a hug, Annie was playing with a cloud of mana.
“I trust him,” she said.
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“As do I,” added Tommy. “He’s the one who got me through math class, so...”
There was a knock on the door. One of the maids had brought them a pamphlet. After thanking the woman, Tommy opened it and read:
“Second exam.
Conditions: A team of 5 or 6 participants with 10 rings each.
Each team will select one of three quests based on the following types:
1. Combat,
1. Mystery,
1. Leg Work.”
“The hell is leg work?” asked Michael.
“Each team has three months to complete their assignment. Participants can exchange their rings for the quest’s details and a token on the academy’s premises starting tomorrow, June 24th 503.”
[Inside the Academy]
"If the length of the side of a square is doubled, what is the ratio of the areas of the original square to the area of the new square?” George asked.
“1:4. In a group of 120 people, 90 have an age of more than 30 years, and the others have an age of less than 20 years. If a person is selected at random from this group, what is the probability the person's age is less than 20?”
The noble scribbled furiously on a piece of paper he had taken out of his pocket and eventually answered “0.25.”
“Correct. Next question?”
George hesitated. Every problem he so carefully devised was resolved within seconds and the counter was always a monstrosity he could barely make sense of.
‘You’re intimidated by this?’ Finn smirked. ‘This is eight grade math, kid. I could go higher, but then you wouldn’t even understand the words.’
He gave the examiner a look wondering if he knew high school math. The old man was acting polite, but his eyes sparkled whenever George was struggling.
“In a bag full of small balls, 1/4 of these balls are green, 1/8 are blue, 1/12 are yellow and the remaining 26 white. How many balls are blue?”
“Six. Find the circumference of a circle inscribed inside a square with a side of 20 meters.”
“What!?” George scratched his head and started scribbling furiously.
“Did I go too far?” wondered Finn. The answer came 10 minutes later.
“20π meters.”
“Congratulations,” Finn applauded. “Next question.”
Back and forth they went for the next three hours. They would need to call it a day soon, so Finn was getting anxious.
“ABC is an equilateral triangle with side length equal to 50 cm. Let H be a point on AC so that BH is perpendicular to AC. Let M be a point on BH and N a point on BC so that MN is parallel to AC. Find the area of triangle BMN if the length of MN is 12 cm.”
This was a ninth-grade question and Finn didn’t even draw the triangle. ‘You’re done,’ Finn grinned. ‘If you can solve this, I’ll give you techniques of freaking integration next.’
Fortunately, although the examiner raised both eyebrows, he did not say anything. George pulled out another sheet and started scribbling furiously.
‘Give up, kid. The next one will look like astrophysics.’
George drew a triangle and it was all wrong. He wrote several formulas, but they were all wrong. Eventually, he ripped the paper to pieces and screamed at the top of lungs: “Impossible!"
“And, we have a winner.”
After explaining how to solve the problem to both the student and the teacher, Finn collected his rings and quickly exited the building.
On his way back to the dorms, he sold the extra five rings for five gold coins and bought food and refreshments for all. ‘By my estimates, one gold coin can buy you a carriage, pay the rent for half a year or put food on the table for one. So... we’re loaded?’
When he opened the dorm’s door all four of his friends were standing in waiting. They looked excited yet concerned at the same time.
With a shit eating grin, Finn pushed a bag of food in each of their hands and then threw the pouch with rings onto the bed. Michael looked inside his bag and found a bottle of red liquid.
"Is this whine?” he asked.
“Does this mean...” Natalie did not dare presume further, but Finn gave her a wink.
“Today, we celebrate passing the first exam!”
The five teens cheered so loud they could be heard even outside the building. They then clicked their wine bottles and drank half of them in one gulp.
Since this was just their second time drinking alcohol, by the time the dorm’s clerk came over to check on them, they were so wasted almost nobody could walk to the door.
“I heard a commotion,” the woman peeked inside. The girls were wobbling on the bed while the boys were sprawled on the ground.
“We are the commotion!” Tommy lifted his bottle and poured what remained into his mouth, nose, and the floor all around him.
“Keep it down,” ordered the clerk.
“Yes, mam.” Finn’s cheeks were red. “I’ll take care of it.”