Chapter 239: Dekan begins to teach the demons a lesson.
Dekan is now faced with a dilemma.
The vast knowledge accumulated by Altice over a millennium is undoubtedly genuine.
Worst of all, she has genuinely focused her research on humans.
She may have even reached the level of human philosophers.
Moreover, her twenty-minute dissertation provided a completely convincing answer to Morion.
Had it not been for the exam system’s prompt disallowing unlimited discussion during the test, she might have continued to elaborate.
Though this ethical question has no standard answer, if Dekan had responded in a different direction and provided an alternative answer that could also convince Morion, Morion might have awarded him 25 points without penalty for overlapping scoring points.
However,
Dekan is not a great philosopher.
Even if he had been asked to answer first, he would have probably only scored about 20 points at best.
Additionally, Altice based her answer on fundamental principles, extending her arguments so comprehensively that it covered almost everything Dekan could think of at the moment.
Now, Dekan has two options:
Either he paraphrases Altice’s perfect answer and gets a guaranteed minimum score.
Given the deduction scale provided by the exam, even by imitating her answer, he could receive 40% of the points, which translates to 10 points.
Or,
He takes a bold approach and attempts an entirely new theory that is completely different from Altice’s.
However, it might result in an answer that Morion cannot accept, yielding a score much lower than the guaranteed minimum.
Dekan thought about it.
No matter which option he chooses,
Continuing this way,
It will be impossible for Dekan to outperform Altice, the freak demon, in this subject of “Ethics and Morality.”
Ordinary methods won’t work.
Unless…
Dekan suddenly thought of something.
He made up his mind and began his response:
“A person should not kill another person because as long as a person still has value, he should not be killed.”
“Phew~”
This self-abandoning response elicited a suppressed laugh from Altice.
Truly, a foolish succubus.
Of course, she knew the two responses Little Succubus could give on the first question: either copying or taking a radical approach.
She arrogantly chose the latter.
Unfortunately, her response was too inferior, and getting any score at all was already commendable.
Upon hearing Dekan’s response, Morion’s expression carried a subtle hint of surprise.
He seemed to understand what Dekan was trying to convey.
He then remarked with a sense of relief:
“5 points.”
Upon hearing Morion’s score, Dekan nodded in satisfaction, showing no sign of dejection.
On the contrary, Altice was slightly taken aback.
Morion had given a higher score than she had anticipated.
But she didn’t dwell on it.
After all, it was a subjective exam. Slight discrepancies in grading are normal as long as the scores are not wildly irrational.
And since the high-level mental magic detection system of the exam didn’t trigger, it meant Morion neither lied nor made an unjust judgment.
After the first question,
Altice scored 25 points, while Dekan scored 5 points.
Soon, Morion saw the requirements for the second question:
[Second Question: Please propose a question based on the theme “Life.”]
Morion rested his chin on his hand thoughtfully and decided on the content of this question:
“I want to ask, why does a person’s life involve labor, and what is the significance of human labor?”
“Should we consider factors like war and natural disasters as irresistible forces?” Altice asked.
“No,” replied Morion.
Altice: “And may we be given a hypothetical nation with certain conditions?”
“Yes, first, it is a relatively wealthy country…”
Morion answered Altice’s question using Norton Kingdom as a reference.
After Altice finished asking her questions, and before the preparation time was over, she once again took the lead and started answering:
“In human primitive civilization, efforts to fetch water were necessary to maintain life, intense hunting was required to fill the belly, and the more work, the more necessities one would obtain…”
“However, in modern times, the development of human civilization has made life very convenient, and labor is no longer absolutely tied to necessities. The meaning of the word ‘labor’ may have changed…”
“But I believe that even in your hypothetical nation, humans and labor are inseparable. Labor is directly linked to the joy of living…”
Altice then embarked on another twenty-minute dissertation.
After her discourse ended, she confidently awaited Morion’s evaluation.
“5 points.”
However, Morion gave her such an ultra-low score with a regretful expression.
“?”
Altice widened her eyes, showing disbelief for the first time.
She was shocked by Morion’s unprecedented low score against her.
Was it because they know they’re losing, so they intentionally sabotaged themselves?
But then she was even more shocked.
The exam system did not determine that Morion violated any rules!
He genuinely believed her answer was worth only 5 points!
Dekan smirked and shook his head, responding:
“I think the significance of human labor is to maximize their residual value.”
Dekan then briefly explained his point of view.
Altice immediately countered Dekan’s response:
“This does not align with human ethics! This is a primitive theory before the establishment of ethics and civilization, which also goes against the predetermined conditions of this question.”
During the discussion session, reasonable objections or counterarguments can influence the examiner’s judgment of the answer.
“So, Miss Altice, let me ask you, if we assume that there is a species called ‘dark humans’ who indeed belong to humanity, but they suffer from discrimination in a prosperous empire and are treated like machines for labor, would they not then obtain the joy of living through labor? Isn’t their labor aimed at realizing value?”
“There’s no such fantasy species as ‘dark humans’ in the real world, and the situation you described is also hypothetical and impractical!”
“You cannot deny the possibility of such a history existing in some other world. Maybe you just don’t know about it.”
“Hmph. Just excuses.”
Altice thought that Dekan’s utterly contrary response to human ethics should deserve zero points.
She thought it unnecessary to refute him extensively.
It wasn’t worth contending with such a foolish little succubus.
After listening to Dekan’s perspective, Altice could already predict the little succubus being thoroughly crushed once again.
She wanted to see whether this little succubus could still smile this time.
This response could be said to have severely trampled on human ethics.
Unless the exam system was broken,
No matter how extraordinary the examiner was, it was impossible to give a significant score!
However,
Morion: “20 points.”
Altice: “????”
