2015 Candidate Results:
Computer Science: 82 -- B+
Mathematics: 93 -- A
English: 91 -- A
Science: 92 -- A
"Did you check it?" Jason walked into the room, though he was trying to remain calm, his trembling voice betrayed his inner turmoil. The High School Exam score inquiry system rarely opened exactly at midnight, so father and son had used the phone and computer respectively to check.
Asmon was so excited he couldn't speak—scoring high on the High School Exam was one of life's three greatest joys, and now he had also been struck by a system that made him a minor millionaire with an annual income of 300,000 dollars. What's more, according to the system, this was only a tiny fraction of its capabilities.
Jason, standing beside him, looked over the scores several times, then slapped Asmon's shoulder hard before giving him a big hug.
A few hours earlier, Grace had excused herself early, claiming she couldn't stay awake and needed to sleep. But now she rushed out, clearly having been too nervous to face the moment of truth rather than actually asleep.
Asmon knew that his parents had struggled their way out of the countryside, spending half their lives to finally put down roots in Hail City. He himself had only moved from the county to Hail in his final year of middle school. Life in the big city had been a heavy burden for the rural family.
When Asmon first arrived in the city, he faced a lot of exclusion at school. It wasn't until his second year of high school that he barely adapted to urban life. He never mentioned any of this to his parents, not wanting to add to their worries.
Asmon's paternal grandparents had passed away early, and his father had married into his mother's family, where he was often looked down upon. The slightly wealthier relatives frequently bossed Jason around, and by extension, they also disdained Grace.
Fortunately, in recent years, they only returned home once a year for the New Year, and his maternal grandparents treated Asmon relatively well. His parents never said it outright, but Asmon knew how much hope they had placed in him.
Now, faced with this score, the whole family was overwhelmed with the excitement of released pressure.
In the end, Asmon couldn't even remember how he fell asleep, only that his father's phone kept ringing, and it seemed Jason had never spoken with such confidence before.
When he woke up, the sun was already high in the sky.
After washing up, Asmon opened the class Discord group and saw many messages tagging him.
Under the double shock of the two major surprises the day before, Asmon had completely forgotten to report his score in the group. Though his relationship with most classmates was lukewarm, their homeroom teacher Vivian had been fair to him. Despite pressure from other students' parents, Asmon's seat was always near the corner. But every time he was bullied, Vivian would step in to help.
Now, including Vivian, many were waiting for Asmon to share his score.
Asmon: Sorry, I fell asleep last night. I got 3 A and 1 B+.
Vivian: Amazing! I knew you wouldn't have any problems. [flowers][flowers][flowers]
Tony: Hey, same score as our goddess Jessica @Jessica
Jessica: Hmm, congrats @Asmon
Seeing this, Asmon smiled. Jessica was the class's acknowledged goddess. Though she had a somewhat spoiled personality, her pure and sweet looks, 165 cm height, and perfectly proportioned B-cup breasts, paired with her carefully styled shoulder-length black hair, had conquered every male classmate. On top of that, Jessica's father, William, was the chairman of Pine Ridge Investment Company, reportedly worth hundreds of millions.
Though another female classmate, Lucy, was equally beautiful, her grades were far worse. If anyone could rival Jessica, it was probably only their devilishly attractive, 170 cm tall homeroom teacher Vivian.
Tossing aside his old, yellowed smartphone—his companion for the past three years—Asmon thought again about his system.
"Finally, I don't have to live like this anymore."
With that, he grabbed his ID card and left home, heading to a nearby Industrial and Commercial Bank of Genovia branch to open a bank account. Then, he gave the system an order.
"Transfer 600,000 dollars."
The next few minutes felt like days.
You have received a transfer of 480,000 dollars to card ending 1245 on June 23 at 13:04. Current balance: 480,010 dollars.
Stunned for a few seconds, Asmon realized that direct public-to-private transfers seemed to deduct income tax...
[For now, this is the only method. A low-tax mode can be unlocked in the future.] The system promptly reminded him.
"..."
Still, 480,000 dollars was more than enough of a surprise. That money could buy a house and a car.
Suppressing his excitement, the first thing Asmon did was buy himself an iPhone 6s, confirming that the money was real and spendable.
Standing outside the Apple store, holding his new phone, Asmon's hands still trembled uncontrollably.
Finding a mall with Wi-Fi, he installed the usual apps and reopened the Discord group. The smooth operation made him secretly relieved—his old phone used to take over ten seconds just to open Discord.
In the group, a few people were planning a class reunion three days later.
Sean: Asmon, are you coming? @Asmon
Sean was one of the few classmates who got along well with Asmon.
Daniel: When has he ever come to these things? He doesn't deign to hang out with us, so don't bother asking. Jessica, you're free, right? @Jessica
Jessica: I can make it.
Lucy: Asmon and our goddess Jessica got the same score. Are you two applying to the same school?
Asmon gritted his teeth reading this. In the past, he rarely participated in such events, mainly because he couldn't stand the sarcasm from these classmates. Daniel was the one who targeted him the most, so this wasn't surprising. But Lucy's jab was unexpected.
The whole class knew Daniel had a crush on Jessica. Daniel's father was a high-ranking executive at Pine Ridge Investment Company, naturally hoping his son could climb this golden ladder. If not for Jessica, Daniel wouldn't even have taken the domestic High School Exam.
Lucy's comment was clearly meant to direct Daniel's hostility toward Asmon. In the past, Asmon might have ignored it, but now he was confident he had nothing to fear from Daniel.
Asmon: I'm applying to Savannah University. Also, count me in for the reunion.
Daniel: Savannah? That place is expensive. Need some financial support from the class, bro? Hahahaha!
"Predictable. But why is this girl targeting me?" Asmon shook his head. Daniel's hostility was provoked because Jessica had mentioned earlier that she was also applying to Savannah University, while Daniel's score was only in the 580s, making it impossible for him to attend the same school.
Asmon had only seen Jessica's morning message just now when checking the chat history. Before the High School Exam, he had always assumed Jessica wouldn't study domestically.
Under Daniel's comment, his lackeys had already spammed a bunch of memes. In reality, though Asmon's family wasn't wealthy, even without the system, they were far from unable to afford Savannah University's expenses. Daniel's comment was just meant to humiliate him.
Daniel wasn't worried about offending Jessica.
When Asmon first started high school, he was the image of a country bumpkin who'd never seen the world, and he'd had several clashes with Jessica. Combined with the young heiress's vindictive personality, their relationship had never been good.
Later, when the boy she looked down on ended up with grades on par with hers, her resentment only deepened.
Asmon wanted to retaliate, but Vivian stepped in to mediate.
Vivian: Alright, this is the class's last group activity. Of course Asmon should come. Daniel, watch your tone.
With that, Asmon couldn't say much more. He put away his phone and wandered aimlessly, needing to come up with an explanation for his parents. After all, sudden wealth wasn't something he could—or needed to—hide from them.
Before he knew it, Asmon found himself outside a few watch boutiques, his heart stirring. He'd only heard of these brands from a few wealthy classmates before, never daring to imagine owning one. But now, nothing seemed out of reach.
Though he now had an annual income of 300,000 dollars and nearly 500,000 dollars in savings, spending tens or even hundreds of thousands on a watch still made him hesitate. For the first time, Asmon felt an intense desire to upgrade the system.
By dinnertime, when Asmon walked out, he was wearing a black Panerai 10-Day GMT. In his hand was another one with a brown strap.
He'd seen this model in magazines and had always loved it, though in the past, he could only admire it from afar.
Though it wasn't as high-end as brands like Patek Philippe or Vacheron Constantin, a 13,000-dollar watch was rarely bought by someone his age alone, let alone two at once. The purchase drew quite a few sidelong glances.
"This feeling isn't bad at all." Though Asmon usually hated being the center of attention, this time, he didn't feel uncomfortable.
"Is this what it feels like to be rich…" Letting out a long breath, Asmon checked the darkening sky and texted his father that he was eating out with classmates.
He had never told his parents about his experiences at school. Fortunately, in all three years of high school, only four parent-teacher meetings had been held, all attended by his less socially adept father.