The rustle of his deskmate Wei Wu flipping through history notes, the whistling of the cold wind scraping past the branches outside, the suppressed yawn from the student in the front row… all the clamor was instantly stripped away, blocked out.
Within his field of vision, there was nothing but the impossibly complex historical dates, analytical diagrams, and key term definitions in the textbook. And—the copy of *High Tier Mathematics Problem Analysis* he had deliberately laid open beneath it.
The history teacher was still lecturing about "the great cataclysm caused by the first appearance of the Demon Beast King, the Heaven-Sundering Profound Lion." In the core of Li Wen's consciousness, however, these critically important historical events were rapidly analyzed, categorized, and imprinted, forming solid memory modules.
At the same time, the few math problems that had made him frown and rack his brains yesterday to no avail now seemed like gems emerging from a fog, their internal logical chains laid bare with perfect clarity.
'A thirty percent boost to comprehension… this is a qualitative leap!'
In the past, at Lv. 2, deducing the saber technique required him to repeatedly mull over the details of applying force, the critical junctures of power transfer, and the subtle angles for linking moves. Now, the torrent of information flooding his mind seemed to have been clarified and refined by an invisible Grandmaster.
Countless sparks of inspiration crackled in his mind, madly colliding, combining, and validating themselves.
The twenty-six forms of the Tiger Saber Skill—the applications for every form and variation, the hidden changes, the absolute limits of every angle, the secret knack for resonating with the power of the Gold Attribute basic Cultivation Technique, the Splitting Blade Golden Killing Skill… All of it was like a scattered jigsaw puzzle, now rapidly assembling into a flawless, harmonious whole at an unprecedented speed under this terrifying mental deduction.
The 99-point bottleneck that had troubled him for five long days—that thin, seemingly unbreakable film—was now beginning to emit a faint, overburdened groan under the constant, precise shaving of a 'mental scalpel' forged from Absolute Focus and a 30% comprehension boost.
Flashes of saber light crisscrossed in his mind. A silent yet harrowing metamorphosis was unfolding within his spiritual world.
Thirty-odd minutes. To an ordinary person, it was half a tedious review session. For Li Wen, however, it was a mental tempest ignited in the depths of his soul, raging with incredible intensity.
Every high-speed collision of thoughts brought him infinitely closer to the realm of 'Perfection' in a High Tier saber art.
In his absolute focus, time lost all meaning.
BRRRRRING— The jarring sound of the bell signaling the end of class exploded like a clap of thunder.
WHOOSH! The transcendent field of focus enveloping Li Wen instantly receded like a tide. The clamor and colors of the world came rushing back, flooding his senses.
A wave of intense dizziness and a vast, mental emptiness washed over him in an instant.
Li Wen grunted, his hands instinctively clamping down on his temples. He interlaced his fingers and kneaded them forcefully, trying to relieve the splitting, throbbing pain.
'The Spiritual Power consumption of Lv. 3 Absolute Focus is several times higher than Lv. 2.'
His body—especially his brain, the 'hardware' supporting these computations—was finally sending him urgent warning signals.
"Hey, Li Wen, you okay?" His deskmate, Wei Wu, was packing his bag. Seeing Li Wen clutching his head in pain, Wei Wu's gaze fell to the book on the desk, *High Tier Mathematics Problem Analysis*, which was only open a few pages and covered in complex Martial Dao formulas. He instantly misunderstood the situation. With a hint of teasing and a good deal of genuine concern, he said,
"Damn, bro, do you really have to go that hard? Even if you want to do math, you shouldn't do it during history class! Look at you, your face is pale as a ghost… If you can't figure out the hard problems, why not start with the easy ones? Don't knock yourself out over it."
"…Yeah," Li Wen replied, the pressure on his temples easing slightly. He peeked at the problem book through the gaps in his fingers and forced a smile, stiff with exhaustion.
"I'm fine, just a bit of a headache… Yeah, I was just trying something out. It didn't work," he mumbled, not revealing the truth.
By the time the classroom had emptied and the jarring bell for the third period—Language Arts—rang, Li Wen finally felt the throbbing pain ebb away, and his mind regained some clarity.
He shook his head to dispel the lingering grogginess, his gaze growing sharp again.
'The cost was high, but the rewards from that brief, frantic session of deduction… were immeasurable.'
Running on sheer willpower, he took out the appropriate textbook, placed it on his desk, and suppressed the overwhelming urge to dash off to the Martial Dao practice hall. He continued to 'diligently' study the contents of the book—after all, every ten minutes earned him precious Scholar experience points.
...
Time passed in the quiet rustle of a pen gliding across paper.
BRRRRRING— The bell signaling the end of morning classes rang right on schedule.
[Scholar Experience +24]
[Profession: Scholar Lv. 3 (0 -> 24/400)]
Li Wen set down his pen. Weary, but filled with deep anticipation, he looked at the updated panel.
'400 points… At a rate of 36 EXP every six hours, the next level-up will take eleven days.' He frowned, but his expression quickly smoothed over.
'But… it probably won't actually take that long. Next week's final exam is a grade-wide test!' A new thought surfaced.
'The core of gaining EXP for the "Scholar" class is learning and mastering knowledge.'
'And what are exams if not the most definitive test of learning? The larger the scale, the more participants, and the greater the difficulty, the richer the EXP rewards for achieving an outstanding score.'
'This hidden mechanic was a key patch implemented by the game's designers to balance the astronomical experience points required for leveling up the Scholar class in the late game.'
'After all, the higher the class level, the more exponentially the required EXP would skyrocket. The total amount needed to go from Lv. 1 to Lv. 10 might not even come close to what was required to get from Lv. 10 to Lv. 11.'