Chapter 40: Joy Fizz and Geek Cola, Am I Grading or Are You?

Inside the box, aside from one Exceptional-Lower Tamer Gear, most of the other products and potions were common quality. Their value was not high, but for low-level beasts and tamers, they were more than enough.

What Adrian had not expected was that he also saw some ordinary beast food inside, the kind sold in supermarkets outside, the kind anyone could afford.

And the beast food he was familiar with was a drink called Joy Fizz.

No matter what kind of beast drank it, their mood would brighten. Especially after hard work and pressure, that joy would double.

It contained sugar, dew condensed from an ordinary plant-type beast, various natural herbs, and carbonation. It was very refreshing to drink.

This was the third best-selling product in their beast feed shop, after Violet Dew and Purple Starvine.

Adrian liked it too.

When he was little, after his parents scolded him for secretly eating Violet Dew, they would see him crying and give him a small bottle of Joy Fizz. He would immediately beam with joy.

As he got older, he drank it less. Stealing a beast's food always felt a little strange to him.

He usually chose to buy Geek Cola, the carbonated drink more popular among humans.

Seeing this drink, Adrian suddenly realized what this assessment was really about.

He also realized that opening this resource box only now meant he had misjudged something at the start.

But it was too late to make up for it now. He took out the Joy Fizz and gently twisted it open.

A fizzy hiss rose. The bubbles jumped.

Adrian patted Lionel, who was still sitting upright, and took a small bowl out of his spatial ring. He poured the drink into it.

"You worked hard, Lionel. Drink something sweet to quench your thirst. The exam ends in one minute. You can relax now."

Hearing that, Lionel finally let go of the tension he had been holding. He gave a bright-eyed cry, then buried his head in the small bowl and lapped quickly with his tongue.

Delicious!

It was not as good as the Spirit Dew Violet condensed, but it had a different kind of flavor.

It was like a victory feast after a battle. He seemed to have only drunk something like this in the first few days after he was born, and even then it was the leftovers from his siblings.

His tamer really was too good to him.

First Spirit Dew, then cake. These past two days, every time Adrian came home, he brought back a pile of golden, shining, delicious things. And now there was this plain but powerful water.

He definitely had to work even harder from now on, meow!

He saw there was still half a bottle of Joy Fizz on the table. He pushed it toward Adrian with his front paws, signaling that Adrian should drink too, that they should be happy together.

He was very insistent.

"Then cheers!" Adrian could not refuse. He smiled and drank.

It still tasted like his memories.

Only before, it had been comfort after being scolded. Now, it was sweetness shared with his beast after enduring pressure together.

The present version tasted better.

At that moment, Mr. Zhu, who was invigilating, naturally noticed this scene. He rarely smiled, then wrote something after Adrian's row in his notes.

Beside Mr. Zhu, Mr. Zhao had spent the entire three-hour exam neither writing nor holding paper. He simply sat there.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

But at the moment the exam ended, a purple light suddenly appeared in his eyes and swept across every student in the classroom.

Then it lingered a few seconds longer on several students who currently looked better and more at ease.

Especially on Adrian.

Only then did he slowly take out a piece of paper and write down a score for each student.

"The exam is over." Mr. Caldwell checked the time. "You may recall your beasts into the beast space."

"Also, leave the items in the resource boxes here. You can rest for three hours. After three hours, return to the classroom. We will announce everyone's score in each subject on the spot, and hand out the rewards."

"Submit your papers in order according to your exam numbers."

The top students of Grade 11, Class 1, the Ember Class, probably had not expected this. On the first lesson of the school year, the teachers had taught them nothing, yet their bodies and energy had been put through a huge challenge.

But not a single student complained. They obediently walked to the podium in order, submitted their papers, and left deep in thought.

In those three hours, every one of them had learned a great deal.

They also understood that high school life after contracting a beast was already completely different from Grade 10.

After all the students left, only the four teachers remained in the classroom.

Mr. Caldwell had just finished organizing the papers when Mr. Sun and Mr. Zhao handed him their score sheets.

"Mr. Caldwell, thank you for your hard work." Mr. Zhao said, then smiled and left.

Mr. Sun did not even speak. He only patted Mr. Caldwell on the shoulder, then also left.

Mr. Caldwell rubbed his shoulder, smiled helplessly at Mr. Zhu, then said "See you this afternoon" to the two teachers who had already left.

Among their four subjects, in terms of workload, his Beast Tamer General Knowledge was the heaviest in some ways.

Lesson preparation was hard, the amount of research was huge, and the most headache-inducing part was grading papers.

The Beast Tamer Resources that Mr. Zhu handled was not easy either. Before and after every lesson and assessment, he had to prepare all kinds of materials, products, and Tamer Gear. These were public school resources, and he was responsible for them.

Mr. Caldwell looked at the score sheets the two teachers had handed in.

Mr. Sun had at least written quite a few notes and bonus points.

Mr. Zhao's score sheet was even drier, with only exam number, name, and score.

However, when he saw the first-place student in those two subjects, he could not help smiling. It was just as he had expected.

But he quickly focused on grading the papers.

Three hours, forty papers, packed with content. He still had plenty to do.

Mr. Caldwell graded according to the exam questions.

As he expected, Adrian's completion rate on the first and second questions was one hundred percent, the highest in the class.

Not only that, on the talent question, he had also written in his own understanding.

On the beast knowledge question, he even listed some obscure evolution paths that had appeared in recent news and documents, just like the Gloomcat that could mutate and evolve into a Sunshadow Spirit Cat that he had used as an example in class.

Mr. Caldwell had known since Grade 10 that Adrian's knowledge reserve was extremely high. But seeing this perfect answer sheet still surprised him.

It could only mean that the Grade 10 questions had truly been too easy for him.

The reason he had always scored full marks before was simply that the total score of the papers was capped there.

Just from the perfect answer to the second question, Mr. Caldwell concluded that Adrian's basic theoretical knowledge and reserve were deeper than some Grade 12 graduates.

This both pleased him and gave him a headache.

That was how it was with overly monstrous students. The content taught in normal classes probably could not help them much anymore.

He could only specially design a teaching method for him, so that Adrian could at least learn something useful from him.

After the second question was fully graded, Mr. Zhu had also finished clearing the resource boxes from the room.

He handed the final score sheet for the exam to Mr. Caldwell.

Mr. Caldwell glanced at it curiously and found that the whole class's scores were not high. Even Adrian's.

But he was used to it. Mr. Zhu was one of the oldest and most experienced teachers in their high school. His question-designing logic and assessment focus were known as the "Ghost Hand." Students never knew where he would strike.

Mr. Caldwell knew because twenty years ago, he had been his student.

"Mr. Zhu, thank you for your hard work."

"Caldwell, don't tire yourself out too much. If you want something to eat, I'll pack it for you." Mr. Zhu was not serious with Mr. Caldwell at all. His face was full of smiles.

"Mr. Zhu, then bring me a pork belly rice bowl, and a bottle of Geek Cola. Sugar-free."

Mr. Zhu nodded and turned to leave.

Only Mr. Caldwell remained in the classroom, still revising papers.

The third question...

Mr. Caldwell had originally not wanted to add it. After all, this kind of cross-application question only appeared in the college entrance exam.

He simply wanted to see how perceptive and adaptable this year's students were.

After grading the papers of the top six seeds in the class, he nodded in satisfaction. Although there were holes in their analysis, the overall plans were decent.

This year would definitely not be the worst class he had ever taught.

Then he opened Adrian's paper and turned to the third question on the back.

His eyebrow twitched for no reason.

This dense, packed writing... was this a mini-thesis?

He had even drawn analysis diagrams?

And there was a ranking of squad matchups with scores?

Am I the teacher or are you the teacher? Am I grading or are you grading?

They had all been given the same three-hour exam, yet Adrian's content output was truly in a league of its own.

However, when he saw the squad that Adrian had ranked first in his scoring, his eyes lit up.

This combination had never appeared in his own thoughts.