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To ensure fairness, each school will send out one additional Seed Player. The remaining four players will then draw lots to determine their groups. In the second round, the top two from each group will compete in a crossover match to decide the final five students who will advance to the third round.
The third round will be an elimination match, determined by drawing lots. The winners will secure a place in the top three, while the losers will compete for positions four to six. The methods of confrontation for Mount and the knights are the same.
On the morning of the eleventh, all participating academies arrived at the main playground of Meteor Academy. The stands beside the playground were filled with spectators. Many officials were seated on the podium. In the center sat a man dressed in an extravagant yellow outfit, exuding an air of authority. He appeared to be in his fifties, physically fit and robust. This man was Sun Guangshan, the king of Starfall Kingdom.
The opening speech was delivered by the dean of Meteor Academy, followed by King Sun Guangshan announcing the start of the competition.
The first day's events included a Calculation competition and a calligraphy contest. The calligraphy contest was similar to the school's Preliminary Competition, where each participant would compose poetry on-site and then write it down. Since the topics were mostly fixed, all competitors had prepared their poems in advance, leaving only the writing to be done during the contest.
Knowing about the academy's Preliminary Competition, Liu Guanfeng composed a Goose Poem. Wang Jiao then asked Liu Guanfeng for another poem. After some thought, Liu Guanfeng wrote Meng Haoran's Spring Dawn for Wang Jiao, who was overjoyed after reading it.
After finishing Wang Jiao's poem, Liu Guanfeng noticed that Li Xiaohan appeared more frequently in his line of sight. Although Li Xiaohan did not explicitly ask for anything, Liu Guanfeng understood that she also wanted a poem but couldn't bring herself to ask.
After much contemplation, Liu Guanfeng finally decided to write Meng Jiao's Song of the Wanderer for Li Xiaohan. Upon seeing Liu Guanfeng's Song of the Wanderer, Li Xiaohan secretly cried several times, unsure if her tears were from joy or if she was moved by the mother-son bond depicted in the poem.
The calligraphy competition commenced first, with twenty-five square tables set up in the center of the playground. Each table was equipped with necessary writing tools. When King Sun Guangshan announced the start of the competition, all twenty-five participants began writing simultaneously with great enthusiasm. Within just over ten minutes, all students had completed their works. The proctor then collected their papers.
The supervising teacher recorded each student's name and work title before sending them to the king, who personally selected those who would grade them. The results would only be announced after all competitions concluded to ensure accuracy.
Next came the Calculation exam. The first part involved a quiz-style competition with a total of fifty questions; each academy formed teams of three to answer questions. At this point, the square tables in the middle of the playground were replaced with long tables and chairs.
Liu Guanfeng and two other fourth-year students sat at one end of a long table. Nearby were students from four other academies, totaling fifteen participants.
A referee teacher was responsible for reading out questions. Liu Guanfeng's academy, Rainfront Academy, managed to answer twenty-six questions correctly out of fifty; however, it was not Liu Guanfeng who answered but rather his two fourth-year classmates beside him. After each question was read aloud by the referee, Liu Guanfeng quickly provided answers to his classmates, who took turns responding.
The students from other academies were left dumbfounded, including the proctor and the officials on the podium, even the king. The reason was that Rainfront Academy had answered the first twenty-six questions correctly, meaning that by the time the first twenty-six questions were completed, the champion had already been determined. This was also the least predictable competition in years.
The instigator, Liu Guanfeng, seemed as if he was just there to observe, as he hadn't answered a single question. The other two fourth-year students became the center of attention. After answering the twenty-six questions, Liu Guanfeng stopped the two seniors who were still eager to buzz in and told them to leave some space for others, leading to such a scene.
In the shortest time, they buzzed in twenty-six times consecutively and got them all right. After that, the three students from Rainfront Academy stopped buzzing in; even when no one else answered correctly, they remained silent. Thus, this unpredictable competition came to an end. In the quick Calculation competition, Rainfront Academy took first place; Stream Academy secured second with ten correct answers; Starlight Academy came in third with six correct answers.
The next Calculation competition consisted of a full hundred questions, with results based on how many were answered correctly within a two-hour time limit. Upon seeing the questions in front of him, Liu Guanfeng shook his head again; they seemed too easy. Soon, he picked up his pen and began answering at a pace of one question per minute. It took Liu Guanfeng an hour and a half to complete all the questions.
After finishing, Liu Guanfeng thought: This kind of question can be used for competition? Back when he participated in the Olympic Competition, he would spend over ten minutes on a single question. Now it was just a hundred fill-in-the-blank questions—ridiculously simple.
When Liu Guanfeng stood up to submit his paper, everyone turned their attention to him because he was the first to submit and was also the only person to have submitted early since the inception of the Calculation Campus Competition.
After handing his paper to the proctor, Liu Guanfeng bowed toward the podium and returned to his position in the Rainfront Academy formation. Dean Su smiled and nodded: "How did you do on the questions?"
"Not bad; I didn't check but probably got at most three or five wrong."
"How many did you answer?" Dean Su asked.
"I answered them all," Liu Guanfeng replied, puzzled as to why Dean Su would ask such a question. It wasn't until everyone returned that Liu Guanfeng understood why.
Upon hearing Liu Guanfeng say he had answered everything and could only have gotten five wrong at most, Dean Su was momentarily stunned and then fell silent.
Half an hour later, when the competition time was up, all participating students returned. When Dean Su asked how many questions they had answered, several academies excitedly reported their results. Among four students, the highest number answered fifty questions while the lowest had answered forty-five. Liu Guanfeng asked in confusion:
"Is it really that exciting to have only answered fifty questions?"
The fourth-grade boy who answered fifty questions said, "Liu Guanfeng, do you know how many questions the champion of the last competition answered?" Liu Guanfeng shook his head.
"He only answered forty-eight questions and got forty-seven right. But I answered fifty questions today; I might just be this year's champion." At this point, the student suddenly remembered that Liu Guanfeng had withdrawn early and asked, "Liu Guanfeng, how many questions did you answer?"
Liu Guanfeng scratched his head shyly and replied, "I answered them all."
When the student heard that Liu Guanfeng had completed all the questions, he was momentarily stunned. Just then, the voice of the president of Meteor Academy came from the podium: "Today's opening ceremony and the calligraphy and Calculation competitions have concluded. Tomorrow morning, we will have the individual and Mount Campus Competition. All participating teams are requested to prepare accordingly.
The grouping for tomorrow's competition will be announced in the morning. I declare that the first day's events of the Starfall Kingdom's five academy joint competition are now over." After finishing, the president stepped aside to allow the king and ministers to leave.
The king returned to the palace in a carriage, along with the exam papers from today's competition.
As soon as he arrived at the palace, King Sun Guangshan eagerly summoned his prepared examiners to his Imperial Study. He pulled out Liu Guanfeng's Calculation exam paper and immediately showed it to the examiners. There were three examiners in total; each one reviewed Liu Guanfeng's paper and then reported to Sun Guangshan:
"Your Majesty, this paper has a total of one hundred questions answered. Except for one answer where the number is not very standard, all other ninety-nine answers are correct."
Upon hearing this, Sun Guangshan took Liu Guanfeng's paper and began examining it while saying, "Good, good. I didn't expect Liu Yong'an, such a rough man, could have such a clever son. This kid is impressive; however, it's a pity that he cannot practice martial arts and is considered a waste in Five Elements Balance. What a shame. You all continue grading the other papers."
There were nine examiners in total: three assessed Calculation, three evaluated handwriting, and three focused on the content of calligraphy competition works.
As they reviewed, the three teachers evaluating calligraphy gathered together. One of them remarked, "This poem is quite good. The title is also nice: 'Spring Dawn': 'Spring slumber unaware of dawn...'” Hearing this, Sun Guangshan perked up:
"Not bad; this poem is really well written. I wonder which academy produced this work. Students from previous competitions could never create such a fine poem. I think we should designate this work as first place; you three have no objections, right?"
The three examiners nodded in agreement simultaneously.
After a while, an instructor exclaimed softly. The other two examiners gathered around. They saw the examiner reading a paper, shaking his head as he recited, "The thread in a loving mother's hand, the clothes on her wandering child..." King Sun Guangshan also closed his eyes to savor the words.
When the entire "Song of the Wanderer" was finished, Sun Guangshan clapped his hands on the chair and said, "Good, what a wonderful 'Song of the Wanderer.' This poem should be sung widely. Immediately inform the Minister of Education to incorporate these two poems into the curriculum of either the primary or Intermediate Knight Academy as soon as possible."
The three examiners looked at the king simultaneously. "Your Majesty, which of these two poems should be ranked first?"
Sun Guangshan thought for a moment. "Both poems are exceptionally well-written, and I don't know which student wrote them. It's really hard to judge between them, so let's declare them both as tied for first place."
"Tied for first? Your Majesty, there has never been a case of a tie for first place before."
"Have you ever seen such excellent poetry before? Why can't there be a tie? It's settled then; these two works will both be considered first."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"You may continue your work; I will take my leave now." With that, Sun Guangshan left the Imperial Study.
"Farewell, Your Majesty."
This is the third update for today; there will be more later tonight.
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