<154 - The Guardian's Absence>
‘Did they run away?’
Professor Bronze de Estrada couldn’t hide his disappointment at the sight of the foundation’s deputy leaving before even entering the classroom.
If I had known this would happen, I would have preemptively struck like Professor Destroyer.
Because I didn’t expect them to slip away, I lost the chance to confront and take revenge on the child who might become my prized pupil.
“Hehe.”
Seeing Oknodie, who was carefree despite my anxiety, only irritated me further.
“Oknodie, first-year. You must be feeling quite happy after meeting your guardian.”
“Yep!”
“It’s unfortunate your guardian left first. Today is the practical evaluation day where you show off what you’ve learned to your guardians who are observing the lecture.”
At those words, Titosso, who was next to Oknodie, was taken aback.
“Ehhh! How could you not announce something so important in advance!”
Hearing Titosso’s flustered voice, her round, bowling ball-shaped father chuckled and replied.
“Don’t worry, Titosso. If my baby doesn’t have good insight, this dad can pick out clothes, choose a house, and even find a husband for her, right?”
“Papa… I’ll choose my husband!”
“Uh-huh. Sure, sweetheart. You might not know much, but you’ll certainly have good taste in men, just like your mother chose me.”
Whether or not the parents were present, all the students wore sour expressions.
Whether they were bothered by the overly doting parent or feeling envious of those who didn’t have such a burden, it was a mixed bag of reactions.
Amid the barrage of critical glances, Titosso casually scoffed, as if to say, “So what?”
“Hmph.”
Titosso, who had previously soured her relations with the students of the Developing Insight course due to the additional assignment incident, had hardened her resolve. After getting scorned for stepping up for everyone, she decided to no longer care about others’ opinions and became a brave child.
“Go get a perfect score and crush the grades of the other students, my baby Titosso!”
“Papa, I’m getting a bit embarrassed. Can we stop the cheering now…?”
Even such a bold Titosso was blushing due to her father’s embarrassing antics.
But the fact that Professor Bronze, distracted by the doting dad, managed to refocus and introduce today’s practical exam was truly impressive.
“This lecture is a practical appraisal exam, where you score points based on who correctly identifies the value of the items the best. Since everyone will submit answers to every question, be prepared for a test that requires sharp insight.”
Although not as silly as Titosso’s father, the other guardians also shone with encouragement for their students.
“Don’t get scores worse than commoners. Show off the pride of a noble family, Charles Donuts.”
“Don’t waste the investment in those decorative art pieces I bought with a thousand gold coins to cultivate my child’s artistic sense. I trust that your investment is not a sunk cost, Melinda.”
As guardians of families or organizations that send students to the world’s top educational institution, their excessive enthusiasm was evident!
“Buzz in to answer, buzz in to answer, buzz in to answer…”
“If you don’t make it into the top 20%, you’ll lose your dignity fees; if you don’t make it into the top 50%, you’ll lose your meal fees; if you don’t make it into the top 80%, you won’t have next year’s tuition…”
Rather than relaxing, the students only grew more tense, making Jezel chuckle lightly.
“Those students all seem pitiful. Given this, it might have been better if their guardians hadn’t come. Thanks to them, we might have an advantage. Oknodie, Isabel.”
Jezel’s comment was a casual bit of encouragement.
To have the students accurately identify the value of the items? That was excessively difficult for them.
At best, they’d just manage to get some approximate guesses.
As for Jezel, she planned to subtly adjust her effort while not making her dark merchant instincts too obvious, discreetly redistributing points to Oknodie and Isabel.
“10 gold, 5 silver!”
“Correct.”
“3 gold, 15 silver!”
“Correct.”
“That’s worthless! It’s free!”
“Oknodie, first-year. Aren’t you getting a bit too many right answers?”
Before Oknodie got three correct answers in a row…
*
At this time, I already knew these kinds of problems would come up.
But I still don’t know what items will be on the test.
The professor always randomly picks things, so how could I possibly know them all?
Unless I can see a price tag, there’s no way I’d know.
But for veteran players, things are different.
[Professor Bronze's Practical Exam Simple Question Compilation]
1. Broken Jar (Free ~ 10 gold)
*Processing Factors
– Insight: No falling for fake patterns or colors.
-Smell: Remember the scents of three types of processing agents.
*Jar Pattern
-Dense cross pattern: 10 gold
-Wavy pattern: 20 silver
-Stripe pattern: 5 silver
-Wide cross pattern: Free
2. Chainmail (1 gold ~ 5 gold)
*Processing Factors
-Durability: Made with scrap iron, parts wear out quickly.
-Chain: Inauthentic pieces don’t have symmetrical chains.
*Ring Sizes
-5mm: 5 gold
-10mm: 3 gold
-20mm: 2 gold
-30mm: 1 gold
…
…
…
By dividing the essential keywords that determine the auction prices and factors to consider for each item, it becomes relatively easy to estimate the prices for general items.
When combined with the knowledge built from experience, unless it’s an exceptionally rare item, measuring the value becomes incredibly simple!
“Oknodie student got three right, and Jezel student got five correct answers.”
But this wasn’t all due to pure insight.
Rustle.
A small note tucked into my wrist.
Inside, it contained the answers I had quietly jotted down after sneaking into Professor Bronze’s research lab last week.
I actively used the stealth skills taught to me by the professor!
“Hmph. I’m shameless.”
The professor who secretly stole the foundation’s items is a wicked being to me, if not to anyone else.
Paying back what I learned.
“…Let me change the questions a bit.”
But perhaps I had gotten a bit too obvious with my answers.
As the professor altered the questions on the sheet, I could estimate the gold values, but I failed to pinpoint the accurate silver values, missing my chances due to minor discrepancies.
With prices being slightly off, I couldn’t provide the exact answers, leaving me with openings.
“Oh dear. The early questions’ achievements were lucky guesses. The answer for this question is 7 silver and 11 bronze.”
“Correct. Jezel, first-year, is starting to showcase her skills more prominently than Oknodie, first-year.”
Thanks to Jezel’s fearsome accuracy, I was quickly overtaken in score.
“Oh my. I showed too much skill!”
In the dark underworld, the one deceived is the fool.
Naturally, improving the skills not to be deceived and exchanging data with merchants from other fields to expand the information base is the way of the dark merchant.
As Jezel put those well-polished insights and the latest counterfeit detection methods to practical use, she scored top points with overwhelming accuracy across most questions.
“Boo.”
As my cheeks puffed out, I glared at Titosso, who sat beside me, and Jezel awkwardly paused from writing down her answer, laughing sheepishly.
At this rate, there were only a few items left, and it was already too late for me to turn the tables.
[You achieved 2nd place in Professor Bronze’s Appraisal Practical Exam.]
[Observation Experience +5]
[Trick Experience +5]
[Stealing Experience +5]
[Appraisal Experience +3]
[Insight Experience +3]
[You gained 22 points for placing 2nd as a bonus.]
“Sorry, Oknodie. I should have gone easier on you.”
“Tch. It’s fine. Jezel did well, though.”
Unless it’s a specialty area, it’s tough to secure a 1st place even if you get high scores due to experience points.
For me, since I’m focusing on combat-related content, unless it’s a close-combat course, I can’t just get 1st place.
“Seems like you’re both having fun. I barely made it at 5th.”
“You did great, Isabel. The second-years took 3rd and 4th, so it couldn’t be helped.”
By the way, Titosso proudly recorded 22nd place in this exam.
To add to that, in the beginning, over 40 students attended this class, but due to dropouts, only 25 are left now.
She placed 22nd from the back!
“Bravo, Titosso! Not coming in last makes this dad proud!”
“Ugh! Please stop with those backhanded compliments. It’s so embarrassing!”
Seeing Titosso receiving a congratulatory shout for coming in 22nd, I found it somewhat fortunate that I wasn’t being celebrated for coming in 2nd.
If Jonnas and Riff had been here, they probably would’ve made a banner with even less expression than that!
[Congratulations! Achiever of 2nd place in the Developing Insight practical course!]
[Congratulations to the 2nd rank of the Developing Insight lady!]
Thinking of holding a sign with such words trailing behind me made my face flush red.
‘Better not to face such humiliation.’
I won’t be disappointed.
Even if Jonnas isn’t here to witness.
Even if Titosso’s Papa doesn’t shower me with compliments.
Really.
For real.
…Well, maybe just a tiny bit of that is a lie.
