David never expected Julian to respond with that kind of attitude, and he immediately became irritated.
"You—!"
He was about to continue when a deep male voice suddenly rang out.
"What's all this noise? Quiet down! This is an examination venue!"
The students instantly fell silent.
The speaker was a middle-aged man holding a book. He was Julian's homeroom teacher and also the grade director.
Even David usually behaved himself in front of this man. The students were all somewhat afraid of him.
When he spoke, no one dared to talk back.
His eyes swept across the crowd, and when they landed on Julian, he paused slightly in surprise.
Clearly, he hadn't expected Julian to show up today.
"Students, today is the final day of your senior year."
"I have a few words I'd like to say before the exam…"
Just like every teacher before a major exam, he began a brief motivational speech.
Meanwhile, Henry quietly nudged Julian with his elbow, looking conflicted.
"Hey… you're not actually planning to battle that jerk, right? I mean, yeah he's a scumbag, but his Bulbasaur is one of the official starter Pokémon. It's even stronger than my Munchlax."
"If you really can't stand him, I can step in."
Clearly, Henry was worried about what Julian had said earlier.
Julian, however, looked completely calm.
"It's fine, Fatty. I only do things I'm confident about."
Confident?
Using a Slakoth to fight a starter Pokémon was supposed to be confidence?
Henry opened his mouth but couldn't find any words.
"…Alright. Just don't push yourself too hard."
He could only say that in the end.
Meanwhile, the homeroom teacher's speech was reaching its conclusion.
"...The next two exams will directly affect your future, so you must give it everything you have."
"But I believe you already understand that."
"The theory exam begins in fifteen minutes. Prepare your admission tickets and proceed to your exam rooms!"
After saying that, he waved his hand.
Students immediately scattered and hurried toward their assigned rooms.
"Julian, I'm in Exam Room C… I'll head over first. Good luck!"
Henry's room was far away, so he quickly left.
"Good luck."
Julian nodded.
His own Exam Room A was just upstairs, so there was no need to rush.
Suddenly, he felt someone staring at him.
Turning around, he saw David glaring fiercely.
"You better not run away during the practical exam later. Anyone who does is a coward!"
David sneered.
"Sure."
Julian shrugged and calmly walked toward the exam building, leaving David standing there.
Exam Room A
It was a large multimedia classroom with at least a hundred candidates.
The atmosphere was extremely tense.
No one spoke. Everyone sat quietly, ready for the exam.
Except for one person.
Julian.
He was curiously observing the yellow Pokémon standing at the front of the room.
Pokémon: Alakazam
Type: Psychic
Potential: Elite Four Level
Strength Evaluation: Lv.55 — Mid Elite Four Tier
Elite Four tier.
According to Julian's memories, this Alakazam was specifically assigned to monitor the exam.
Any cheating—whether through Psychic powers or other methods—would be instantly detected.
After all, it was a Level 55 Elite Four-tier Pokémon.
Unless someone somehow brought a Champion-level Psychic Pokémon to help them cheat…
But if someone had that kind of backing, why would they even bother taking the college entrance exam?
Julian casually sensed the aura coming from Alakazam.
Even from a distance, he could feel a powerful pressure radiating from it.
An Elite Four-level Pokémon was already considered top-tier among most Trainers.
I wonder how long it'll take me to reach that level.
While Julian was thinking, the exam broadcast began.
"The exam will now begin. Duration: 120 minutes. Please answer carefully…"
After receiving the test paper, Julian skimmed through it.
Then he relaxed.
Easy.
For him, these questions were trivial.
Ability effects, additional move effects, base stats, recommended training directions…
All basic knowledge.
He flipped to the last page.
Then paused.
Oh?
Now that's interesting.
Thirty Minutes Later
The exam hall remained extremely quiet.
Students were desperately writing.
Two hours actually wasn't much time for this test.
Then suddenly—
Someone raised their hand.
"Teacher, I'd like to submit my paper early."
He stood up, placed the test on the desk, and walked out.
The entire process took less than three seconds.
But the exam hall instantly exploded—internally.
Everyone stared in disbelief.
Someone handed in their paper early?!
Most people were struggling to finish in two hours!
And someone submitted after only thirty minutes?!
The invigilator frowned and walked over to the desk.
Early submission wasn't against the rules.
But no one ever did it.
The Pokémon theory exam was notoriously difficult.
Even the top students normally used every minute.
And this year's questions were even harder than usual.
Had this student just given up?
Curious, the teacher glanced at the paper.
Then froze.
Because every single question—
Was filled in.
And from a quick glance…
Every answer was correct.
The teacher stared at it for a long time before slowly taking a breath.
He picked up the paper and walked toward the front of the room, stopping beside Alakazam.
"Alakazam… did you notice anything unusual about the student who just submitted?"
In other words—
Did he cheat?
Alakazam shook its head.
"You're saying… although he has some unusual energy fluctuations around him, he didn't use them and answered normally?"
The teacher became even more shocked.
Thirty minutes.
A paper harder than usual.
All correct.
This wasn't just talent.
It was absurd.
Then he suddenly remembered something.
The final question.
He quickly turned to the last page.
This was a bonus question worth ten points.
But those ten points were incredibly difficult to earn.
Every year, this question involved advanced professional Trainer knowledge.
For example:
team composition, battle tactics, strategic coordination.
Even top students rarely earned these points.
And this year's question was even harder.
Topic: "Construction of a Rain Team."
A Rain Team was a strategy centered around Rain Dance weather.
Even many Elite and Champion-level Trainers were still studying this concept.
The teachers themselves didn't fully understand it yet.
So they expected zero students to answer it correctly.
Yet on this paper—
The answer section was filled with dense writing.
"The construction of a Rain Team revolves around the effects of Rain Dance. First, we analyze the rain conditions:"
"Water-type moves gain increased power. Thunder and Hurricane gain near-perfect accuracy. Pokémon with the Swift Swim Ability double their Speed. Pokémon with Dry Skin recover HP each turn…"
"Therefore, the team composition should include Pelipper as the Rain setter. Kingdra with Swift Swim as the primary sweeper. Ferrothorn provides defensive synergy with its Grass/Steel typing…"
The answer continued for hundreds of words.
The writing even ran out of space on the page.
It looked like the student hadn't even finished writing everything.
The invigilator was completely stunned.
No one had ever explained Rain Teams like this before.
And yet—
The logic made perfect sense.
"What kind of student… is this?"
"Could he be the illegitimate child of some Champion Trainer?"
The teacher muttered.
Meanwhile, outside the exam hall.
Julian was sitting beside a flowerbed, handing Slakoth a can of Pokémon food.
"Slow down. You're eating like you were starving in a past life."
He laughed.
"Mochi!"
Slakoth kept eating without even looking up.
Julian sighed.
"Still an hour left… waiting around is pretty boring."
This exam had indeed been harder than usual.
But to him, it felt like elementary school math.
The last question was at least somewhat interesting.
"It seems this world's understanding of battle tactics is still primitive."
"Concepts like defensive synergy and weather teams have only just appeared among high-level Trainers."
"Not to mention tricks like Substitute + Toxic…"
Thinking about it made Julian excited.
If he casually used one of these tactics in the future…
The results would probably be incredible.
After all, these strategies had never appeared before.
And when the public finally saw them—
He would definitely gain a huge number of Shock Points.
But that could wait.
He was still just starting out.
Suddenly he remembered something.
Daily quests should have refreshed.
He opened the system panel.
Daily Quest: Joy of Victory (C Rank)
Requirement: Win one battle
(Battles in Simulation Secret Realms do not count)
Description:
When someone annoys you, just beat them up!
Reward:
• 1 Beginner Modification Opportunity
• 5,000 Poké Coins
Julian smiled.
5,000 Poké Coins… not bad.
He was currently short on money.
But the quest description…
Why did it feel like the system was hinting at something?
Just then—
A notification appeared.
Ding! You gained 1 Shock Point from "Invigilator"!
Julian blinked.
The invigilator?
Then he realized.
The teacher must have checked his paper.
But…
"Only one point? That's stingy…"
Two Hours Later
The exam ended.
Students flooded out of the building.
Most looked miserable.
Some complained loudly.
A few even looked like they were about to cry.
The questions had been far harder than expected.
Henry walked over to Julian, sighing.
"Man… what were they thinking when they made those questions? They were insanely hard."
"Especially that last one about Rain Teams. I've never even heard of that before!"
But then he noticed something strange.
Julian looked completely calm.
Not worried at all.
Henry blinked.
"Wait… don't tell me you actually did well?"
Julian glanced at him.
"Think about it. Even if the exam was difficult, it was difficult for everyone."
"So it won't affect rankings that much."
Henry thought about it.
That actually made sense.
He immediately relaxed.
Just as he was about to say something—
A voice suddenly interrupted.
"Julian?! You submitted your paper early?"
Their homeroom teacher had appeared behind them.
"Yes."
Julian nodded.
The teacher's brows twisted into a deep frown.
"Why would you do that? Haven't I told you that even if you don't know the answer, you should still write something?"
"Handing in early shows a terrible attitude!"
His voice was loud enough that nearby students gathered around.
Soon whispers began.
"The exam was so hard and someone still submitted early…"
"Maybe he just gave up halfway…"
"I mean, I only knew how to answer the first thirty minutes of questions too."
"Still… daring to submit early during the college entrance exam… he's not afraid of Mathew getting angry?"
"Mathew" was the nickname students gave their homeroom teacher.
Facing the criticism, Julian answered honestly.
"Teacher, I finished the paper in twenty-five minutes and spent five minutes checking it."
His tone was sincere.
But to everyone else—
It sounded outrageous.
The exam was extremely difficult, and he claimed to finish it in half an hour?
Impossible.
"You…"
Mathew trembled with anger.
"I thought you finally realized how important this exam is!"
"But you're still treating your future like a joke!"
He sighed heavily.
At that moment—
A sharp laugh rang out.
"Hahaha! Not difficult? Finished in half an hour?"
David walked over, laughing uncontrollably.
"What are you trying to say? That everyone else here is an idiot?"
He sneered.
"First you pick a trash Pokémon like Slakoth, and now you're saying nonsense like this. Julian, did something mess with your head recently?"
When he said the words "trash Pokémon", Julian's expression changed slightly.
He turned and shrugged.
"Remember something."
"I never said everyone else here was stupid."
David looked confused.
"What?"
"Oh."
Julian replied calmly.
"That's just your interpretation."
Mathew was about to explode in anger—
But suddenly a girl shouted.
"Look! The results are out!"
Behind the crowd hung a massive electronic scoreboard.
The theory exam was mostly multiple-choice questions, and with both computers and Psychic Pokémon grading the papers, results came quickly.
Everyone immediately looked at the screen.
Soon someone shouted.
"Hey! Isn't that Wang Qingshan, the dark horse top scorer of Golden City? He got 130 points!"
"Damn, the test was so hard and he still scored that high…"
"Wait… he's only second place?"
"If he's second… then who's first?"
Then someone screamed in shock.
"Wait… what the hell?! Look at first place!!"
Everyone stared at the very top of the screen.
Silence fell over the crowd.
Every student stood frozen, eyes wide as if they had seen a ghost.
At the top of the rankings was one line.
1st Place: Julian
Exam Room A Rank: 1
City Rank: 1
Score: 150 Points!!!