Viktor read at a rapid pace, quickly finishing Lina's thesis outline.
According to the review process, he needed to exchange "answer sheets" with Jayce. After they each read Lina and Kaya's thesis outlines, they would provide their joint feedback.
Thus, Kaya brought her paper over to Viktor.
Lina, meanwhile, nervously walked up to Jayce and handed him her open notebook.
"Professor Jayce, this is my thesis design."
"Mhm." Jayce took the notebook. Just like Viktor had done moments ago, he casually asked Lina, "What is your name?"
"Lina."
"And your surname?"
"I don't have one." Lina sneaked a glance at Viktor nearby, her tone much more confident. "I'm just Lina."
"Oh?" Jayce clearly understood the implication. "You're a Zaunite?"
"Yes." Lina nodded openly.
"A real Zaunite, huh." Jayce studied her delicate, frail face and remarked, "Lina, you don't look like one at all."
"..." Lina stayed quiet.
'You don't look like a Zaunite...'
In the past, she would have considered this a compliment from a Piltovan.
But after reading Levi's article, hearing such praise now inexplicably made her feel uncomfortable.
Jayce, however, was completely oblivious to this.
He simply held up the notebook and methodically reviewed Lina's thesis design.
A moment later.
"Viktor, what do you think?" Jayce turned to exchange opinions with Viktor, his brows slightly furrowed.
The final result was finally about to be announced. Both Lina and Kaya inevitably held their breath in anticipation.
But Viktor's response was, "They both have their issues. It is hard to say which is better."
"Mhm," Jayce nodded. "I thought the same."
"Their thesis outlines are at roughly the same level, and they finished at almost the exact same time. Distinguishing between the two is quite difficult."
However, there was only one spot available in the research group.
"So?" the young lady Kaya asked aloud, clearly concerned.
She, Lina, and even Viktor subconsciously looked toward Jayce.
Because everyone knew that Jayce was the head of the research group, and the final decision rested in his hands.
"I think..."
Jayce's gaze swept over Lina and Kaya one by one.
The room was so quiet that one could almost hear a heartbeat.
The students who had already given up on the assessment also looked over with keen interest.
Finally, Jayce gave his answer.
"I think Kaya is a better fit for our research group."
"If no other students can submit an outline design, then she is the chosen candidate this time."
The room remained silent; no one else stepped up to the podium.
Clearly, the victor had been decided.
Lina's face instantly turned pale.
Her lips trembled as she tried to say something, but looking at the high-spirited Kaya Ferros beside her, she ultimately closed her mouth in resignation.
'What is there to say?'
'If my thesis design was clearly superior to Kaya's, then maybe there would still be a sliver of hope.'
'Now that our performances are practically identical, is there even a need to wonder who Professor Jayce would choose?'
'The young lady of Piltover, or the country bumpkin from Zaun. Anyone would know how to choose.'
It wasn't just Lina. The others present, especially the international students from Zaun, looked as though they had anticipated Kaya's victory all along. None of them showed any surprise.
Not a single person questioned Jayce's judgment.
Everyone accepted it naturally.
Only Viktor frowned slightly. But after hesitating for a long time, he ultimately said nothing.
Instead, it was Jayce who took the initiative to explain his judgment.
"I chose Kaya primarily because, although her and Lina's thesis designs are hard to distinguish in quality, if I absolutely had to compare them, I believe Lina's design has a larger flaw."
"She only thought to determine the operating point of the engine and generator based on the optimal brake specific fuel consumption curve of the steam golem. However, this operating point merely means the engine has the highest fuel-to-effective-mechanical-power conversion efficiency at that point. For the augmentation device discussed in this topic, we typically want the engine and generator to operate at the point with the highest fuel-to-electrical-energy conversion efficiency..."
Jayce's clear, detailed analysis thoroughly convinced the students present.
Unconsciously, those strange looks diminished.
The students were all listening attentively, and the subtle tension in the air shifted along with it.
Even Lina herself helplessly but wholeheartedly accepted this defeat.
She believed it was entirely due to her own lack of skill that Professor Jayce had made such a judgment.
"Congratulations, Kaya."
Lina conceded to her bitter rival, looking utterly crestfallen.
As for how smug Kaya's smile was, or how triumphantly she followed behind Professor Jayce, leaving the classroom with her new teacher...
Lina no longer had the energy to watch.
She simply sat dejectedly below the podium, endlessly reflecting on her previous mistake.
'If I had been a bit more thorough, if I hadn't made the mistake Professor Jayce pointed out... maybe, just maybe, I would still have a chance. But why didn't I think of that!'
"Don't be too hard on yourself, Lina."
Suddenly, a deep male voice rang in her ears.
Lina looked up, only to see Viktor leaning on his cane.
"Professor Viktor, you... you haven't left?"
"I left, but then I came back," Viktor said as he lowered his cane and slowly sat down in front of her. "To tell you something. Something I think you ought to know."
"What is it?"
"This failure is not your fault." Viktor's tone was complex. "Although the mistake Jayce pointed out in your work does indeed exist."
"However, a mistake of the same magnitude is not absent from Kaya's thesis design either."
"Her experimental design for the optimization strategy to reduce the engine's transient operating conditions can only be described as a disaster... If we must compare design flaws, I don't think yours is necessarily worse."
"This..." Lina's body trembled slightly.
Although Viktor phrased it tactfully, she still heard the underlying message.
Her thesis design was not inferior to Kaya's!
She hadn't lost... at least, not in terms of skill.
"Then why did Professor Jayce..." Lina trailed off. She still didn't dare say it. Saying it would be useless anyway.
But Viktor pointedly said it for her.
"Jayce... he is a pure scientist, a fair and good man."
"But ultimately, he grew up in Piltover."
Viktor sighed helplessly, stopping right there.
The Jayce Talis he knew was certainly not the type of person to abandon his principles to curry favor with the powerful.
At least, not right now.
Jayce definitely hadn't shown favoritism toward Kaya because of House Ferros's prestige or any mutual interests he had with them.
Yet, for some reason, he had subconsciously eliminated Lina.
And this reason was something Jayce himself couldn't even recognize.
But Viktor recognized it—in the few years he had collaborated with Jayce, he had experienced it many times.
"Is it because..." Lina resentfully realized something. "I'm a Zaunite?"
"I'm sorry," Viktor said, feeling a pang of sympathy.
Upon receiving this answer, Lina's face paled even further.
She sat in a daze for a long time, looking utterly crushed, before finally forcing herself to perk up.
"Professor Viktor, you have nothing to be sorry for... I should be the one thanking you."
"Thanking me..." Viktor fell silent.
'What is there to thank me for?'
'I clearly could have questioned Jayce's decision earlier, but I said nothing.'
'Why? In our usual scientific research, I've had plenty of disagreements with Jayce.'
'Why didn't I dare to speak up this time?'
'Is it because...'
'I am still that same Zaunite... Over a decade has passed, and it's still the same.'
Zaunites were used to remaining silent.
Viktor's expression gradually changed.
His gaze grew quietly resolute. Gripping his cane with both hands, he supported his frail body and slowly stood up.
"Lina, give me your notebook."
"Huh?" Lina looked up in surprise.
"I will take it back and discuss it with everyone in the research group," Viktor promised with a firm tone. "As long as everyone acknowledges your skill, perhaps I can secure an additional spot for you."
Lina's eyes instantly lit up upon hearing this.
She hurriedly fumbled to pull out the notebook and solemnly handed it to Viktor.
"Professor Viktor, thank..." She was almost incoherent. "Thank you!"
This time, Viktor calmly accepted Lina's gratitude.
He carefully tucked the notebook into his coat, bid her farewell while leaning on his cane, and turned to leave.
Lina gazed at his back with gratitude, watching as Viktor gradually walked away.
"Ah, wait..." But after the excitement faded, she finally realized something in hindsight.
'That notebook!'
Earlier, when she handed the notebook to Viktor and Jayce for review, she had flipped to the page with her thesis outline beforehand, preparing it before passing it over. Therefore, the two professors had only seen what she had written.
But that notebook contained more than just that thesis outline.
At the very beginning of the notebook was Levi's article—*Where Did Zaun Come From?*
'If the professors see this article...'
Lina once again became tangled in anxious apprehension.
'It should be fine, right?'