First and Second - 645

Skymender nearly held his breath as he watched the names appear. He saw many names, some of which he had become familiar with and some of which he still didn't know.

Around the classroom, he heard many sighs and other noises of disappointment. Finally, he reached the top five without his name being written.

He watched with expectance as the fifth place name was written.

Charles.

Next was fourth place. Not him. Third place. Not him.

This meant that he was in the top two.

Second place… Not him.

He could barely stop himself from laughing. He, a ten year old, outsmarted all of these people.

As expected, his name was written in the first place spot.

"This test was harder, so more intelligence points will be given. First place, 5 points. Second place, three points. Third place, one point."

That put his points at ten total.

"Alright. Next, we will begin to study biology, the study of life. This field is far more in depth than the field of space. It should take a little longer to get through it all. Let's start now."

The Imperial Scholar began to lecture. Skymender left the Education building rather late, while the sun was barely hanging on.

He considered going to the place he usually ate at, but with ten points, he had new options.

He started at a green restaurant. Its walls were made of jade-like material and plants were growing around it. A vine hung down blocking the entrance. In front of it was a sign that said ten points.

Skymender brushed aside the vines and walked through the entrance. An elegant looking woman stood at the front counter, wearing a jade green dress.

"Welcome to the Jade Tea Manor. Please have a seat anywhere you would like."

Skymender nodded and walked upstairs.

Up here was a beautiful balcony he had seen before. He sat at the only table on the balcony and looked at a menu. After a brief moment, the woman came up.

"What can I get for you?"

Skymender pointed at a random tea.

She nodded. "Coming right up."

She returned downstairs and came back up less than five minutes later carrying a tea cup on a plate.

Skymender enjoyed the calming drink as the sun finally fell. He soon left and returned to his room, studying and falling asleep.

The next morning, a similar cycle to that of when they were studying space repeated.

Skymender learned over a long period of time, came back and ate, then studied, and finally fell asleep.

This lasted nearly two weeks. They finally finished after being in the Imperial Scholar Camp for an entire month.

Skymender now had a total of eighteen points.

Today, the Imperial Scholar announced the end of the biology section.

"It has been a while, and we are finally done. I can't claim that you know everything about biology, but you now have a firm grasp over it that most will never achieve in their entire lives. The medical section would have lasted just as long if we had not already finished the biology section. We can probably cut that down to a week. The biology exam is tomorrow. Prepare."

Skymender returned to his room and studied heavily through the night. The next morning, he returned. After introductions, the Imperial Scholar took them to another room. As soon as they entered, it felt as if they had left the building and entered a forest. The roof was open, allowing the sun to shine in, and an entire wild garden took over the room.

"Plants, animals, water, all life that can survive in this habitat are here. Note down as many as you can, all the information you remember about them, and where you found them. You will be scored based on this. No cheating, or you will be kicked out of the Imperial Scholar Camp. You may not realize it, but there are eyes everywhere in here. Start… Now."

Skymender quickly walked over to the side and began to mark everything he saw and recognized down.

He had a bit of advantage in this field as well due to his study of poison, though not much. He had mostly focused on poisonous plants back then.

Perhaps in the medicine section he would have an even greater advantage.

He spent nearly an entire hour straight writing. He did not know absolutely everything, but he had confidence in his knowledge.

After an hour, they were summoned back by a sound. Not a single person dared to write down after they heard the sound. Nobody knew what the Imperial Scholar was capable of.

They returned, and the Imperial Scholar collected all of their notes.

"On to section two, a more standardized format."

He led them back to the room and handed out normal test papers. Some questions had pictures. Some only had words.

Some asked for you to identify a plant based on a picture, while others asked you to identify a plant based on its properties.

With only two weeks of studying, even if everyone was extremely talented and the Imperial Scholar himself was teaching them, it was impossible to know all of the answers.

After another hour, the test was taken up.

The next day, they came in again.

Names were written from the bottom up.

Skymender watched as he made the top five again, then the top three. Just as he thought he was going to get first place, he was written down second. Instead, the name Charles resided at the top of the board.

He looked over at Charles, who looked back at him with a serious gaze. It was much less friendly than when they met. Clearly, he felt much less confident than before, even with his possibly perfect memory.

Skymender already knew why someone with a perfect memory could fail to get first place every time.

It was because there was a difference in memory and comprehension. He only wondered if Charles had realized that yet. If he had, then the rest of the Imperial Scholar Camp would be much more challenging.