Chapter 160: There is Always Someone Better Than You

Alex silently tossed the crumpled answer sheet into his dimensional space, and when he lifted his head to look toward the front of the room, he found the professor's eyes fixed on him.

For a second, Alex's breath caught in his throat. In that very instant, he didn't know what to do and could only stare back at the professor, until the professor slowly turned his gaze away from him.

Alex finally breathed a sigh of relief, and his shoulders sagged with the release of tension.

The professor turned his head away from Alex and moved his head around the classroom once more, silently moving his eyes around the students. Some students were chattering happily. Others grumbling about their marks to the person seated beside them, or in front, or behind.

Even those who seemed satisfied with their scores still wore the quiet hunger of wanting a perfect mark, and Alex could only watch them with a burning shame spreading through his chest at having failed so miserably on what should have been one of the easiest tests he'd ever taken.

He was certain that if he'd been given the chance to write the answers over again, he would have scored no less than forty-five, or at the very least forty, which was the lowest mark anyone else in the class had received.

"Everyone, silence," the professor commanded, raising his voice to make sure everyone heard him. The chattering died down at once, and every student turned toward the front, some having to twist their whole bodies around since they had been talking with the students seated behind them.

The professor's face turned impassive, and no matter how closely Alex studied him, he couldn't tell what Professor Jaxon was about to say, nor what he felt about having watched Alex crumple his answer sheet.

"Now that everyone has received their answer sheets, I hope you have each looked over your marks. Feel free to tell me if you feel the grading was unjust in any way. I'll look into whether there was some mistake on my part, and if there's room to raise a score, I will. Otherwise, if everyone is satisfied, I'll proceed with attendance and end the class," the professor announced, then waited for any student who felt wronged by their grade to step forward.

However, none of the students moved, and for a moment the professor's brown eyes settled on Alex. He answered back with a shake of his head. The professor took this to mean he had no objections to his mark or to the way it had been graded.

Even though Alex hadn't looked over his answer sheet completely, from the first page to the last, he knew the marks were fair. The fact that he could no longer remember exactly what he had written in the first place, was a testament to the very fact that how poorly he had actually written the answers.

Besides, he had no wish to feel that same suffocating shame again by looking at his answers a second time. The first time had been more than enough, and he was determined to write better answers in the future, so he had no intention of telling the professor that the marking had been unjust, or that he deserved at least forty, if not higher.

The professor waited a few more seconds, but seeing no one raise a hand or step forward, he returned to his desk and took out the attendance record. With a final glance around the room, he declared, "Now then, I'll begin marking attendance."

More than half the students nodded in response.

The professor shuffled quickly through the attendance record, and in a voice that was neither raised nor soft, yet carried clearly across the classroom, he called out, "Roll number one."

From behind Alex, Lucian, whom Alex had assumed was fast asleep, answered calmly, "Roll number one, present."

The professor glanced briefly in Alex's direction toward Lucian who sat at the very last bench of Alex’s row.

Alex didn't bother turning his head to see whether Lucian had already returned his head down to the wooden desk to fall back to sleep.

Instead, Alex turned his head toward the window and gazed at the pale, blue-white sky, watching clouds of varying size and shape drift lazily across it. The voices of the professor and the students quickly faded into the background.

His roll number was the last on the list, so he didn't have to worry about missing attendance either way. Slowly, his thoughts drifted back to how he could have scored higher marks.

He told himself solemnly that he had given his best and there was nothing more he could have done in that situation, yet the bitterness of having scored only thirty marks lingered on his tongue like a stale taste.

He had thought he'd endured far harder things than this, but who would have guessed that scoring the lowest in the class could still fill him with such bitterness and anger.

Human nature was simply something he could never fully understand, and even once understood, it could not be entirely controlled. Books could only offer him theories and tales, but real life proved far harder than anything he had ever read.

Some things could only be understood through experience and could never be fully grasped beforehand through knowledge alone. The bitterness of failure, of not standing on the same level as others would hurt anyone whether the disparity was because of one's marks, rank, or anything else.

A person would feel sorrow for as long as there remained something to compare themselves against. Even if one understood, in the abstract, that there would always be someone with greater talent, greater strength, or greater knowledge, that understanding alone would still fill a person with spite and make them question their entire being the moment they stood before such a person.

"Roll number fifty." A distant voice abruptly pulled Alex from his thoughts, and he immediately rose from his seat, turning to face the professor. "Present, Professor."

The sound of quiet mockery and smirking laughter reached his ears, and he glared back at the students instead of shrinking away.

What if he wasn't the best? What if he wasn't the most talented? What if there would always be some greater, more insurmountable mountain to climb? What if there was always someone who was much stronger? Who was more powerful? or more knowledgeable than him? Alex would not stop.

He would fight against everything, climb his way up from the very bottom, and stand among the very best. He would not settle for anything less. He would rise higher than anyone and become the strongest under heaven. He had not forgotten the promise he had made to his parents when he was a child. He had declared to them that he would become the strongest under heaven and he was going to fulfill it no matter the odds.

He clenched his fist and swept his gaze across the students who he had to climb and win against. He would not stop until he became the very best and since there was nothing stopping him from leveling up anymore, he would not be stopped and would show what he could achieve to the whole world and shut their damn mouths.

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