Exploring Technology in a Wizard World-Chapter 1401 - 1399: Seeking a Path

To commemorate growing a year older, Ma Qiu followed the trend and at the end of the year, went to a magical place called the "Photography Studio" in Atlantis.

Inside the "Photography Studio," Ma Qiu painfully paid one silver coin and twenty copper coins—this was quite an expensive fee, even more than what Lady Jianna charged, almost enough to have dinner with Lady Julia.

No matter the cost, after paying the money, Ma Qiu earned the qualification to stand in front of a strange contraption.

In front of a device with a triangular stand, Ma Qiu tried hard to open his eyes wide, and as instructed by someone nearby, he displayed what he thought was his brightest smile, diligently maintaining it for three seconds.

"Ka!"

With a dazzling flash of light, Ma Qiu completed this expensive expenditure and was told to come back in three days to collect the photo.

Three days later, early in the morning, Ma Qiu left his warm bed and rushed to the photography studio, where he saw the so-called photo.

On the thin, palm-sized hard paper, he saw his smile from three days ago printed on it with incredible clarity. Even in black and white, it was astonishing—more vivid than the work of the most skilled artist.

That one silver coin and twenty copper coins were truly worth spending... Ma Qiu felt as he returned to Atlanta University Main Campus dormitory, carefully placing the photo between the pages of a printed book.

Later, Ma Qiu would sometimes take out the photo to admire it, looking at his smile in the photo, unable to help but think that life in the new year would surely get better and better.

But as it turned out—he was wrong—terribly wrong.

On the day of taking the photo, because he had spent one silver coin and twenty copper coins, he was smiling despite feeling rather frustrated.

And compared to the following year, that frustrating day turned out to be a rare happy day.

The reason, simply, was that Atlantis University had undergone reforms.

Regarding the reforms, Ma Qiu actually didn’t know much. But his personal experience was that the courses and research suddenly became much more difficult, with a lot more assessments added. If one fails three assessments in a row, they would be warned. Three warnings would lead to being advised to withdraw.

If the assessments were only related to mastering course content, Ma Qiu wouldn’t be too worried. However, the aspect he hated about the reform was that some courses required not just understanding the content but also comparing oneself to others. The university claimed that educational resources were limited, and only the relatively excellent ones could stay.

For example, in the Hall Ancient Language course assessment, there were 187 others taking the exam with him, and the total score was 100 points. If he didn’t reach 60 points, he would definitely be deemed unqualified, but reaching 60 and above didn’t guarantee qualification either; it depended on how others scored.

Specifically, his score had to rank in the top 90% of everyone’s to qualify, sometimes strictly it had to be in the top 75%, and more leniently in the top 95%.

Under such a premise, he was in competition with everyone else taking the exam, not only needing to master knowledge but also ensuring he wasn’t the one who understood it the worst. In extreme circumstances, if everyone scored 100—the maximum, then if he made just one mistake and scored 99, he would be disqualified.

This situation repeating 9 times would force him to leave Atlantis University.

This urged him to study desperately, trying his best to surpass those he competed with, and then he finally realized how lacking he truly was.

As mentioned before, he barely met the qualification line in Atlantis University’s assessment to enter the university. In a sense, his luck was greater than his abilities.

Apart from the very few fortunate ones like him who got into Atlantis University by luck, the other students seemed like monsters to Ma Qiu, exceptionally sensitive to various knowledge, with extraordinary memory, comprehension, and logic skills.

Many of these students were nobles, having received education from multiple tutors since childhood, unlike Ma Qiu who was nowhere near their starting line.

At this point, Ma Qiu was grateful more than once for choosing Magic Linguistics.

With his linguistic abilities, he barely managed not to fall to the bottom in various language exams, though he occasionally fell into the dangerous range of being in the last 5%, receiving two unqualified marks—one more and he’d be warned.

To avoid being warned, to avoid being advised to withdraw after three warnings, Ma Qiu bit his teeth and studied day and night, putting in all his effort into learning and researching.

This year, he nearly gave up all forms of entertainment, devoting all his time to studying, even changing his previous weekly habit of taking a lady out for dinner to just seven outings every two months.

In this way, he barely made it through a year.

At the end of this year, Ma Qiu spent two silver coins and sixty copper coins at the photography studio to take a newly popular color photo.

Looking at the clearer image of himself in the color photo, Ma Qiu reviewed the past year and suddenly realized one thing, that continuing to struggle with studying like this was futile.

Though he had a certain ability to study, compared to others in the same discipline, he truly wasn’t strong, and compared to people in disciplines like Magic Chemistry, Magic Creatures, he would be instantly crushed. So even if he worked harder, his assessment scores would only fluctuate between qualified and unqualified, never reaching a satisfactory level.

With such circumstances, proceeding to the third academic year, he almost had no chance of remaining on campus.

Unable to stay at the university didn’t mean there were no futures, but according to the consensus among many students in the university, the future paths were significantly narrower.

In the more than two years since its establishment, Atlantis University has become an indispensable part of Atlantis, of Shalin, and is somewhat renowned across the continent. Graduating from Atlantis University and leaving to find a good job or becoming an apprentice to a certain wizard wouldn’t be difficult.

However, staying at Atlantis University clearly offers much more.

After all, Atlantis University has only been founded for slightly over two years and has already developed to this extent, who knows how terrifying the future would be. Remaining as a part of Atlantis University would have a significant chance of climbing the social ladder.

Bear in mind, many noble offspring are present in the campus here, and the connections one gathers by staying can’t simply be measured in money.

But then again, obtaining the qualification to stay, is easier said than done?

Ma Qiu lacked confidence; his best course assessment score was at the 52nd percentile, whereas only achieving an average score in the top 10% would offer some hope.

Therefore, he could only look for alternative paths.