Chapter 19
Two days later, in front of the Imperial Examination Hall, a massive board had been erected. Upon it were written the rankings and scores of all successful examinees in large golden letters.
The area was packed with people.
Scholars who had taken the exam.
Families of scholars.
Information brokers.
Merchants.
Minor nobles.
Marriage matchmakers looking for future officials.
Even servants sent by large aristocratic families.
Everyone wanted to know who would become the empire's newest officials.
A passerby pointed at the board.
"Today's scholars are much better than the previous batch. The passing rate this year is over fifty-seven percent. The last Imperial Exam only had a thirty-six percent passing rate."
Another nodded.
"Of course. We have talents like Bai Ji and Li Kai this year. They are the future pillars of the dynasty."
A third person squeezed through the crowd.
"So who are the top three?"
A man standing near the front immediately answered.
"Oh, that's easy."
"First place is Lallu Kallu with ninety points."
"Second place is Megatron with eighty-eight points."
"Third place is An Jin."
The crowd nodded.
Then the man scratched his head.
"But there is a small problem."
"What problem?"
"An Jin's score isn't written."
"..."
"..."
"..."
The crowd froze.
"What?"
"No score?"
"Did the examiners forget?"
"How can they forget the score of the third-place scholar?"
More and more people gathered around the board.
Soon dozens of theories appeared.
Perhaps the ink had faded.
Perhaps the score was confidential.
Perhaps the examiner had terrible handwriting.
Perhaps a dog had eaten the number.
No theory sounded reasonable.
Then a skinny man with an expression that screamed trust me bro stepped forward.
He cleared his throat.
"My uncle's brother's son's friend's cousin's tea master's nephew works as a tea boy under Examiner Volidimort."
The crowd immediately became interested.
"Tell us!"
"What happened?"
The man lowered his voice dramatically.
"What I'm about to reveal is a top secret."
Everyone leaned forward.
According to the laws of gossip, once more than twenty people leaned forward, a secret automatically became public information.
The man continued.
"I heard An Jin wrote something so profound, so shocking, so world-changing that none of the examiners knew what score to give him."
The crowd gasped.
"Some examiners argued he should be first place."
"Others argued he should not pass at all."
"Then they argued."
"Then they argued harder."
"Then they started arguing academically."
Everyone nodded.
That sounded normal.
The man continued.
"After that they started arguing physically."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Thirty minutes later, only Examiner Gojo and Examiner Suikuna were still standing."
The crowd became excited.
"What happened to the others?"
The man pointed dramatically toward the sky.
"They were scattered across the examination office with broken noses, swollen eyes, and fractured pride."
The crowd gasped.
"What happened next?"
"Gojo and Suikuna decided to settle the matter with a game."
"What game?"
"I don't know."
"Nobody knows."
"Only legends remain of it. It's said that only extraordinary geniuses can feel the game's rules and they ate the only ones who can play it."
The crowd became even more interested.
The man continued.
"After the game, they finally agreed on a score."
"What score?"
The man raised three fingers.
"Two hundred and forty-seven."
The crowd blinked.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Out of one hundred?"
"Yes,Out of one hundred."
The crowd exploded.
"IMPOSSIBLE!"
"THAT'S ILLEGAL!"
"THAT'S NOT A SCORE!"
"THAT'S A CRIME AGAINST MATHEMATICS!"
The man nodded seriously.
"Examiner Volidimort said exactly the same thing."
"So what happened?"
"He looked at the score."
"He looked at the ceiling."
"He looked at the score again."
"Then he declared that anyone receiving two hundred and forty-seven marks out of one hundred clearly could not be ranked normally."
"But his marks are almost three times more then full marks so he-"
"So An Jin was placed third."
The crowd became silent.
After several seconds, one man finally spoke.
"You know..."
"What?"
"That somehow makes sense."
Everyone nodded even though none knew why.
For some reason, they thought it really did.
At that moment, the crowd parted.
A young scholar walked toward the board.
It was An Jin.
Or more accurately...
Uchiha Ryo.
Ryo looked at the rankings.
Then he looked again.
Then he rubbed his eyes.
Then he looked a third time.
His mouth slowly opened.
His eyes widened.
His soul almost left his body.
"Third place?"
He stared blankly.
"I got third place?"
He remembered his answers.
The answer about Emperor Cin Tapak Dum Dum.
The rock poem.
The anti-corruption strategy that involved executing almost everyone.
And many other masterpieces that should never have been created.
Ryo stood there in silence.
Then he heard the gossip being spread around him.
The exact same story about the examiners.
The exact same story about the two hundred and forty-seven points.
The exact same story about broken noses.
The exact same story about Gojo and Suikuna.
Ryo became even more speechless.
Inside his mind, he called out.
"Hey, System."
"Yes, Host?"
"What happened to those examiners?"
"Did they go insane after being affected by my Illusory Writing Technique and Illusory Ink?"
The System immediately replied.
"No, Host."
"They went insane after reading your answers."
Ryo fell silent.
The System continued mercilessly.
"Your techniques merely opened the door."
"Your writing walked through it carrying a hammer to distroy their mind."
Ryo said nothing.
Because even he didn't fully remember what he had written.
The System sighed.
"Host."
"Yes?"
"Please never write poetry again."
Chapter End