134~ Full Mobilization
Imagine this: tomorrow is the big admission exam. You’ve done pretty well in your regular studies and have prepared thoroughly for the finals, feeling confident about securing a great score. But there’s a twist—your teammate, whose exam score directly averages into your own, ends up scoring single-digit marks. How would that make you feel?
After taking a glance at Wenfu’s abysmal scorecard, Dillin concluded: this feline is an authentic honor roll student… of being utterly hopeless at studying.
Time was running out. It was time to execute a tutoring plan so brutal it might even violate the “Anti-Barbaric Treatment of Cats Act.”
No, this wasn’t tutoring anymore. This was emergency intervention—resuscitating a terminal patient whose academic heartbeat was barely ticking.
Wasting no time, Dillin immediately put down his advanced supplementary books and grabbed the core textbooks.
“Aistride, my friend, I need your help.”
“Hmm,” Aistride nodded her consent. “What do you need me to do?”
“Well, as the Divine Prince, I must entrust the subject of ‘Divine Authority Studies’ to you—it’s your responsibility to teach Wenfu.”
Dillin’s eyes scanned Wenfu’s scorecard, landing on the most glaring, bl**d-pressure-inducing grade: a 6 in ‘Divine Authority Studies.’
Turning his gaze to her highest-marked subject, the ‘Basics of Divine Authority and Realm,’ where she scored a 52—an abomination under a hundred-point scale, but an SVP-level achievement compared to the rest of her scores.
At least it showed Wenfu had some basic understanding of the subject, which meant they might have a slight edge in improvement.
“Wenfu.”
“Ah, yes! Yes! I’m here!” The Wenfu sitting on the bench jolted at hearing her name, nervously fidgeting with her hands.
Especially when she caught Dillin scrutinizing her scorecard—a flashback hit her like a thunderstorm reminding her of the dread-filled childhood moments when her parents analyzed her grades, glancing deeply at her.
“I have a question.”
“Yes?”
“For the entrance exam math section, as far as I remember, the multiple-choice questions add up to 36 points, right?” Dillin’s gaze shifted meaningfully back to Wenfu. “Even if you blindly chose ‘C’ for every question, you should’ve scored at least ten points.”
“Uhhhh…”
“How did you manage to get only TWO right?”
“Ugh…” Wenfu’s ears drooped further, unable to look at Dillin in the eye.
“Forget it, talking about this is futile now. Aistride, I entrust this rescue mission to you. Let’s begin.”
“Yes sir.” Aistride responded softly.
“Ughhh…” Watching the looming figures of her mentors grow closer, Wenfu felt immense pressure weighing down on her.
“Let’s start with a math crash course, Wenfu. Can you understand the first page of the textbook?” Dillin, somehow producing a pair of black-framed glasses, rested them on his nose.
“Of course! I definitely understand.”
“Good.” Dillin internally reasoned that there’s no way even a struggling student couldn’t make sense of the first page.
If she couldn’t even handle that, it was no longer about motivation but about sheer intellectual capacity.
“Alright, let’s tackle the examples below then. This one is simple; just plug in the formula above. It’s not difficult…”
“Uh… Dillin teacher, I have a question…”
“Yes?”
“What…is a formula?”
“………….” Doubled Silence
Both Dillin and the assistant tutor Aistride were left speechless.
Dillin set down the textbook, defeated.
A hopeless student may have some grasp of knowledge, but this… this went beyond being a hopeless student. The definition of a formula? This wasn’t a normal student anymore; it was time to bring out the big guns.
“Well, we’ll start with the definition of a formula…” Dillin, taking charge as the main instructor, started explaining while Aistride provided supportive teaching.
Still, Dillin soon realized he had seriously overestimated Wenfu’s foundational knowledge. Outside of her ability to read, everything else might as well be zero.
Teaching got increasingly frustrating.
This approach wasn’t going to cut it. With only half a day left, even if they didn’t sleep or eat, it would barely make a dent.
Moreover…
Dillin didn’t think this was about her capability. It was clear that Wenfu wasn’t focusing. Though Dillin could see Wenfu’s sincere desire to learn and improve, she kept nodding off. Her face gradually approached the desk, her eyes mimicking a chicken pecking rice.
Dillin suddenly empathized with teachers from his past life who lectured passionately—only to find students dozing off right in front of them.
A sudden urge grabbed him—the urge to pick up the chalk and chuck it at Wenfu’s head.
Maybe he wasn’t skilled enough to teach such a challenging student.
“Tap Tap Tap…” Dillin moved to Wenfu’s desk, tapping softly on it.
“Zzz… huh?! I’m listening! Really, I’m totally into it!” Wenfu’s tail snapped up, and she quickly rearranged her book.
At her reaction, even Aistride—who rarely showed emotion—revealed a troubled expression.
“Wenfu, with this condition, I fear I don’t have the skill to teach you.” Dillin said earnestly.
“Eh? Eh??” Hearing the grave tone, Wenfu’s pupils shrank in panic.
This feeling was hauntingly familiar—like being about to be abandoned by the team…
“No, no! I’ll definitely pay full attention and listen carefully! Please don’t kick me off the team…”
“Kick you off the team?” Dillin, holding a pointer, lightly tapped Wenfu’s head. “I only said I couldn’t teach you. Who mentioned kicking you out?”
“Since I can’t teach you, brace for the extreme tutoring. It’s not over.”
Dillin put down the pointer, walking towards the library door.
“Aistride, please do your best to teach Wenfu Divine Authority Studies while I’m gone.”
“Yes.”
“I’m off to find someone who can teach you.” With that, Dillin exited, leaving the door behind him.
“Uh?” Wenfu touched her head, her big eyes blinking curiously at Aistride.
Even Aistride was confused, unsure who Dillin intended to find but followed his request to continue teaching Wenfu about Divine Authority Studies.
Whatever the case, Wenfu was a Divine Princess—her theoretical exam scores might be lackluster, but her gift for divine power was undeniable.
Aistride recognized that Divine Authority Studies was the subject most likely to improve Wenfu’s scores since she had some foundation in wielding divine powers and using her realm abilities.
Twenty minutes passed with no sign of Dillin. Then, the door opened, and a radiant golden light filled the study.
“Tillysha?!?” Seeing the familiar girl, Wenfu’s eyes lit up.
She hadn’t caught a glimpse of Tillysha in the past two days; their schedules had entirely missed each other, leaving Wenfu missing her presence.
“Good afternoon, Wenfu.” Tillysha’s warm smile greeted her as usual, creating a soothing atmosphere.
“Well, I’ll leave her in your capable hands, Tillysha. I have something to attend to,” Dillin’s voice called out, followed by the sound of his receding footsteps.
Tillysha closed the door and gracefully pulled up a chair next to Wenfu’s desk.
“I’ve heard from Dillin about your less-than-ideal performance in subjects other than Divine Authority Studies.”
“Mm, mm.” Wenfu nodded honestly at the close distance. “Tillysha, where were you this morning?”
“Not important now.” Tillysha gently placed a white finger to Wenfu’s lips. “Don’t forget, Wenfu, Dillin sent me here to help you learn and secure some improvement before the exam.”
“Mm, alright.”
“Tillysha, earlier I taught Wenfu some basic points of Divine Authority Studies—she seemed to understand everything well,” Aistride said. “In my opinion, it’s unrealistic for her to master other subjects in such a short time. She should focus on scoring in Divine Authority Studies.”
“True. That said, this doesn’t mean she can’t aim for some improvement in other subjects.”
“Is Tillysha suggesting we still teach her other subjects? But judging from Dillin’s prior attempt, it wasn’t effective.”
“Partially. While it might not be feasible to strengthen her foundation quickly, that doesn’t mean she can’t increase her scores.”
Tillysha casually picked up a feather pen, gracefully holding it as she wrote on a sheet of clean paper.
“The multiple-choice section of tomorrow’s math exam, as I understand, is worth forty points. Even if Wenfu chooses the same option for all questions, she can secure about ten points if luck’s on her side.”
Upon checking previous years’ entrance exam papers at Coleman Academy, Tillysha had noticed a peculiar inclination toward the ‘D’ option. For tomorrow’s exam, Wenfu should select ‘D’ without hesitation across all multiple-choice questions.
“Remember this: don’t think at all. Just choose all D’s blindly. Any thought process is likely to lead to the wrong answer.”
“Oh, oh.”
“However, for additional backup, there’s a chance D might appear less frequently. Always pick the most complex-looking option among the choices. It’s something of a quirky habit among exam setters at Coleman.”
“And for the subsequent detailed questions, follow the formulas I write here and plug in the values provided in the question to earn points for the steps. These formulas should suffice; the entrance exams won’t get much tougher.”
“For instance, first question: hyperbolas and circles…” When encountering these, apply the given formula, input the known values, and leave it at that.
“Remember, under no circumstances should you attempt to calculate the final answer. Cover a whole scratch paper trying to calculate the answer, and you’ll end up with the wrong one, completely unnecessary. After these, go over the fill-in-the-blank section. If you’re unsure, fill in your lucky number.”
“Oh, oh oh…” Wenfu nodded repeatedly, understanding Tillysha’s simplified explanation without the usual drowsiness creeping in.
What kind of strategy is this?
Aistride looked at the golden-haired girl earnestly teaching Wenfu with mild surprise, realizing she had another trick up her sleeve.
Tillysha, by the way, was a transfer student who bypassed the entrance exam, leaving her performance a mystery. Scores from the entrance exam were transparently displayed on a large public board to encourage progress among students.
“Huh? Did I miss something?” Princess Filisia entered the house in an athletic outfit late in the afternoon, opening the second-floor library door after missing Dillin, Aistride, and Wenfu.
“Princess Filisia has returned,” Tillysha greeted, pausing her meticulous one-on-one teaching with Wenfu to address the knight in training.
“Finally seeing you, Tillysha. Took you long enough! Both Aistride and Wenfu are here, studying hard it seems. I feel like the only slacker.”
Upon entering, Filisia thought a moment, then stepped back.
“Apologies, let me freshen up first—I wouldn’t want to stink you up~”
Tillysha sniffed but detected no foul odor; instead, the faint scent of roses was becoming stronger with Filisia’s perspiration.
Looking over, Filisia’s sweat-dampened sportswear accentuated her athletic yet feminine figure, showing shimmering beads of sweat on her thighs.
“Back in a tic,” Filisia said, closing the door and heading to her room for a shower.
Girls often take their time in the shower, yet Filisia returned in record speed within half an hour, seemingly feeling safe enough on the men-free second floor, towel wrapped around her damp amber hair.
“So, Wenfu’s not performing well on her exam preparation?” Filisia noticed, her chest catching the attention of all present.
“Eh? Eh?”
“Although it sounds a tad proud, my literature score is actually pretty good. Maybe I can help out?”
“Please do, Filisia. For literature, basic literacy suffices—you only need to explain it in simple terms that Wenfu can grasp easily. Exam tomorrow.”
“No problem~”
“But we’ll still need Aistride to help boost Divine Authority Studies.”
“I’ve got it.”
“Wahh….” Watching her peers discuss so earnestly about aiding her without judgement, Wenfu felt a warm glow of camaraderie.
Perhaps finally, she had found reliable teammates who cared about her, flaws and all.
