Chapter 306: The Expert
Chapter 306: The Expert
Translator: StarveCleric Editor: GaiaNove
"101?"
Mo Hongyi's shuddered violently and he nearly fell onto the ground.
The heck!
The maximum score in the Supporting Occupation Pavilion is 100 and you tell me 101?
Are you for real?
It was no wonder why this servant was trembling as if he had gone mad! If Mo Hongyi were in his place, he would be shivering as well!
Managing to achieve 60 points back then had already made him the idol of countless people. What in the world is 101?
"What’s key is that... 101 doesn't seem to be the conclusion. His points are still increasing, and until now, the test at the Supporting Occupation Pavilion has not yet ended..." The servant added in.
"The test isn't over yet?"
Mo Hongyi felt a sudden urge to rip out his hair.
Achieving 60 points in the Supporting Occupation Pavilion for his 1-star master teacher examination had made him a legend, but now, the other party had reached 101... and the test had yet to end...
Madness! The world has gone mad!
"Let's go and take a look!"
Unable to endure any longer, Mo Hongyi lifted his legs and made his way out immediately.
"Your Highness, about my punishment..." The servant was about to follow along when he recalled something.
"Punishment? What punishment? Go and claim your reward, ten Night Illumination Pearls, and one steel sword!"
Taking big strides, Mo Hongyi continued his way to the examination hall.
Upon hearing that not only was the punishment abolished but that there were also generous rewards, the servant knew that he had made the correct decision reporting this matter to the master.
Overjoyed, he chased after Mo Hongyi hurriedly.
...
The same situation was also occurring at several other locations.
In the Apothecary Guild.
"Congratulations, congratulations!"
"Apothecary Hong, congratulations on your breakthrough. You have finally taken the final step and became a 3-star apothecary. You have my admiration and respect!"
"Indeed! Back then, we took the 2-star apothecary examination together, but in the end, you are the only one who has managed to reach this level!"
Numerous apothecaries surrounded a middle-aged man.
Dressed in a long robe, a prominent emblem decorated with three stars was pinned on his chest.
He was the person who reached 3-star not long ago, Apothecary Hong.
He took the examination a few days ago, and today, the emblem representing his new identity finally arrived.
The most formidable apothecary in Tianwu Kingdom's Apothecary Guild was also a 3-star. At his grade, he was already standing toe-to-toe with the guild leader.
"There's no need for all of you to be so modest. I happened to meet an expert when I was out a while back, and his guidance has enlightened me. If not for him, I couldn’t have imagined how long I would take before I can reach this level!" Apothecary Hong said.
"Even if you meet an expert, you need to possess the wisdom to decipher his words. I wonder when I can reach 3-star like you!"
Seeing the Apothecary Hong responding to their praises with such humility, another apothecary shook his head with a bitter smile.
"Teacher!"
At this moment, an apprentice apothecary barged into the room in a hurry.
"Calm down, it is unseemly to panic like that!"
Upon realizing that the apprentice was his student, Apothecary Hong flung his hand.
"Yes!" The apprentice halted, panting heavily to catch his breath.
"I told you to ask Master Teacher Jiang Chen about the feast. What did he say? Will Princess Mo Yu be attending?" Apothecary Hong asked.
"I..." The apprentice was taken aback by his teacher's question. "I... haven't asked him!"
"You didn’t ask him?" Apothecary Hong's face darkened in rage. "If you can't accomplish such a simple task, don't bother calling me teacher anymore!"
The apprentice's face paled.
Apothecary Hong was a 3-star apothecary, and as his student, he would have a huge advantage when taking the 1-star apothecary examination in the future.
If he were to be expelled from his tutelage... he would lose all hopes of becoming an apothecary in this lifetime.
"Teacher, I have a reason... for panicking. Just now... someone was taking the 1-star master teacher examination... and he entered the Supporting Occupation Pavilion. He chose pill forging and..." The apprentice's body shuddered.
"What's wrong? Did he achieve a score of 60? Is his score higher than that of Mo Hongyi Mo shi?" Apothecary Hong waved his arm.
The student quivered for a moment before replying, "He... he scored... 101 points!"
"What? 101 points?"
Apothecary Hong's entire body trembled, and his eyes nearly popped out from their sockets. His face spoke of nothing but disbelief.
Even though the master teacher and the apothecary were two separate occupations, many formidable master teachers chose apothecary as their supporting occupation, so he was very familiar with how master teachers worked.
The maximum score for the Supporting Occupation Hall is 100. For someone to score 101, what in the world is going on?
"101 points in the Supporting Occupation Hall?"
"Let's go and take a look!"
After hearing the apprentice's words, everyone went into a frenzy. All of them rushed out of the Apothecary Guild.
To score 101 for instructing a puppet in pill forging in the Supporting Occupation Hall, how incredible must that person be?
They felt that this was a sight they mustn't miss.
The Apothecary Guild was located nearby the Master Teacher Pavilion and it didn't take long for them to arrive at the examination hall. The hall, by this time, was already flooded with people, and all of their gazes were fixated on the tightly shut door.
"Jiang shi, what is going on?"
Scanning the surroundings, Apothecary Hong finally noticed a familiar figure and walked over.
That person was Jiang Chen.
At this moment, his eyes were opened so wide that they might drop out at any moment. His body was shaking uncontrollably, his fists were tightly clenched by the side, and he had an expression full of fear. Upon seeing Apothecary Hong, he pointed to the door in front with a shaky finger.
"Take a look for yourself..."
"Un?"
Lifting his head, Apothecary Hong saw the numbers on the door and his body wobbled, causing him to nearly fall to the ground.
"130? How can it be 130? Isn't the maximum score for the Supporting Occupation Pavilion 100?"
He exclaimed in shock.
The number '130' was displayed prominently on the door. The number seemed to pierce into the hearts of those who laid their sight on it. The apothecaries behind him froze on the spot, dumbfounded.
"I am not sure what happened as well..."
Jiang Chen shook his head. He, too, felt that the situation was insane, "Perhaps there is a problem with the Supporting Occupation Pavilion. Otherwise, how can it be possible for someone to achieve such a result?"
"A problem?"
"That's right! There must be a problem with the system. Otherwise, how can one achieve such a high score?"
"If there's a problem, this result should be invalidated and a retest should be conducted!"
Someone chirped in.
The maximum score was 100, yet someone shoved a 130 in their faces. It was natural that anyone would think this way.
"I'll talk to Wu shi later..." Jiang Chen nodded, but halfway through his words, a voice interjected.
"The examination hall is a spiritual treasure that the Master Teacher Pavilion specially tasked experts to create, so it is impossible that it contains any faults!"
Not expecting someone to refute his words so disrespectfully, Jiang Chen was about to rebuke when he obtained a clear look at the other party's appearance, immediately suppressing himself. "Since Mo shi said that it isn't a problem with the Supporting Occupation Pavilion, then... what is going on?"
The one who refuted his words was the number one genius of the kingdom, Mo Hongyi.
He had also received the shock of his life after witnessing the results displayed on the door.
"I've heard of a legend regarding the master teacher examination, but I'm unsure of its authenticity!" Mo Hongyi said with a grim face.
Looking at his grave expression, the surrounding crowd turned uniformly to focus their attention on him.
Even Wu shi, who was conducting the examination, turned to look at him as well.
"In the Supporting Occupation Pavilion, what is tested is one's ability to guide another. A wrong guidance results in the deduction of one point, and a correct guidance results in an addition of a point. Everyone should know this, so I will not elaborate any further!" Mo Hongyi said.
The crowd nodded.
"However, have all of you ever thought... about how the Supporting Occupation Pavilion judges whether one's actions are correct?"
Mo Hongyi surveyed the surroundings and continued, "Just like the apothecary test going on now, the so-called correct procedure is based on the standards of a 4-star apothecary forging the same pill. What if... one were to judge the process from the perspective of a 5-star or 6-star apothecary?"
"This..."
Everyone's body trembled simultaneously.
Knowledge was relative.
Something that a 1-star apothecary thinks to be a fundamental law might not necessarily be true in the eyes of a 3-star apothecary.
A child might think that the sky is round and the earth is flat, but the same could not be said about an adult.
The assumption for judgment in the Supporting Occupation Pavilion is that the forging procedure created by the 4-star apothecary is entirely correct.
If one's pill forging standards haven't reached 4-star, one would think that there is no mistake in his actions. However... what if one's skills and knowledge surpasses 4-star?
If a 5-star, 6-star or even 7-star apothecary were to come, will he think that the forging procedure is perfect?
That might not necessarily be so.
In the eyes of such an expert, the 'model answer' might actually be filled with mistakes.
"Are you saying that... the fellow taking the examination inside possesses knowledge that already exceeds that of a 4-star apothecary?"
How could Jiang Chen possibly believe this?
How can that seemingly ordinary lad actually be such an incredible apothecary?
"If that's not the case, how can you explain why a point is deducted before three is added? In the Supporting Occupation Pavilion, a single mistake that is pointed out should award only one point, the total score rising in increments of one!"
With a grim expression, Mo Hongyi continued, "The person taking the test inside must have found loopholes in the answer key, and initially, these were judged by the Supporting Occupation Pavilion to be mistakes. However, the Supporting Occupation Pavilion is a treasure which possesses intelligence. It realized that the modifications that the examinee made allowed the pill forging process to continue more smoothly, so it compensated for the points immediately, and awarded double bonus points for discovering the loophole."
"This..." The crowd's eyes narrowed involuntarily.
"So that is to say... has the person inside found 15 mistakes in the pill forging procedure of a 4-star apothecary?"
If one were to follow the forging procedure of 4-star apothecary perfectly, one would be able to attain a score of 100 points. However, given that the score had reached 130, it meant that Zhang Xuan had found 15 mistakes in the model answer provided by a 4-star apothecary!
The heck!
Is he human?
"Other than this... I truly can't think of any other possibility!" Mo Hongyi shook his head.
"Now that Mo shi mentioned it, I recall having read about this situation while browsing through books regarding the master teacher examination. However, as no one has managed to achieve such a feat for a very long time, it became forgotten!"
Seeming to have remembered something, Wu shi could not help but remark.
Having had two master teachers verify the situation, the crowd realized that it was highly likely to be the case. Nonetheless, they continued to find the situation hard to believe.
Not only did the person inside notice the mistakes intentionally incorporated into the puppet, he was even able to point out the flaws left behind by the 4-star apothecary. If so, what is the actual standard that the fellow inside possesses as an apothecary?
"Who is the person inside? Can it be that he is an elder in the Apothecary Guild? "
Apothecary Hong could not help but ask.
"He isn't an elder, he is merely a 1-star apothecary. What’s more, he hasn’t even reached twenty years of age. His name is..."
Jiya! Just as Jiang Chen was about to speak his name, the door of the Supporting Occupation Pavilion opened all of a sudden.
A young man walked out slowly from within.
"Ah... Zhang Xuan? Why is he here?"
Apothecary Hong burst out in shock.
"Apothecary Hong, do you know him?"
A 2-star apothecary that had followed behind him asked immediately.
"He... he..."
Apothecary Hong's face paled. "He is the one who helped me achieved a breakthrough in my pill forging, the expert whom I just spoke of!"