347 First Grades

"Congratulations contestant George Craymor on advancing to the next phase."

"_"

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George stared at the judges in shock, as his body slightly trembled from excitement.

Soon, his tears all came bursting out... and he hurriedly used his left sleeves to wipe them dry.

"Thank you.... thank you.... thank you...." he said exasperatedly... so he tried to hold back his tears again.

He had finally succeeded in taking the first step towards his dreams.

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"Well, even though this is a happy occasion for you.... I'd still like to remind you that this is just your first entrance examination.

And this one was the easiest ecam of the all.... since the difficulty level increases with each examination.

So please prepare hard for the next ones... as this 62% might be your best grade of them all.

Once again... congratulations contestant George Craymor!!"

"_"

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By the end of it all..... several people could be seen quietly wailing, while others smiled and jumped about excitedly.

By the end of the first round, 38% of the contestants had all failed this round woefully..... and this was supposed to be the easiest round?

With 8 more examinations with increasing difficulties coming up... everyone couldn't help but wonder how many people would be left at the end of it all.

This was truly insane!!!!

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Looking at his name posted on the list of those who would advance to the next round..... George smiled stupidly, and later on smacked his cheeks hard.

'Pack!!!'

this wasn't the time to get complacent.

He still had a long way to go.... so there was no use feeling overly excited now.

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He looked up to the sky and fisted his hands, while secretly swearing to do better.

And from there, he hurriedly went home to tell his sister the news..... as well as start practicing again.

Because come tomorrow, he would still be taking his second and third examinations all in one day.

But of course only by passing his second one, would he advance to the third... so it was better to make last minute preparations now.

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Following that, he quickly went home to tell his sister the good news..... but he saw her, he decided to mellow down his happiness for now.

Because while he had passed his first examination, she on the other hand had failed hers woefully.

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He knew his sister too well.... if she had passed, she would have already jumped out at him like an excited wild cat.

But when she went into silent mode, then there was definitely something wrong instead.

And he was right, because before he had arrived..... his sister had locked her door and immediately collapsed on her bed.

Rather than crying, she started by looking at the ceiling as if lost in thought.

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She felt the sheets beneath her, which were somewhat cold..... and also felt the blanket over her, which gave out a very warm feeling.

Both feelings completely contradicted each other... yet, they could actually make the perfect recipe for the 'perfect sleep'.

She later in bed for a while longer.... and for the first time ever, she began to connect to her reality, as well as understand that human beings truly had an unpredictable lifetime.

Nothing in life was really guaranteed..... and that was a fact!

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She slowly opened her eyes and faced the window, while listening to the hazy sounds of her neighbors below screaming happily from some joyous occasion.

To her, it seemed like the entire world was in a celebratory mood... except for her.

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'Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!'

"Little sister..... I know that you're in there..... so come out and let's talk about it alright?"

"_"

As soon as she heard her brother's voice, she wasn't sure it if had set off anything within her.

But all she knew was that at that moment, the puny lump in her throat had developed into a massive knot.

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Her lungs screamed out for oxygen, as she suddenly started gasping and choking from it all.

And just like that, the waterworks immediately began and swiftly made their way down her cheeks.

As the stream of tears rolled down, she subconsciously placed her hands over her mouth... as she didn't want her brother to hear her crying.

Today, was one of the worst days of her life as she felt that even starvation, would be better than what she felt right now.

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Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock! Knock!'

"Little sister..... if you don't open up right now, then I'll break the door down, and we'll have to pay for it later." George threatened.

And with that, he could hear her quickly rush towards the door frantically.

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'Chack!'

The door was now Unlocked, and George swiftly pushed his way in and higher his adorable little coaster.

"Its okay!.... it's okay!..... no matter that, you've always got me..... so stop crying alright?

And hey..... the next entrance examination for the Law Academy's next semester, starts in August.

So by then, you'll be fully prepared to take on any other challenges." George said in a comforting tone.

And to his surprise, his sister lifted up her head as if saying:' what the hell are you talking about?'

George: '__'

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After 6 minutes of explaining her situation, George almost felt like strangling her to death.

He had cried before when he felt like he had lost, as well as when he was happy.

But his sister's reasons for crying had truly been an eye opener for him.

What the hell?

'Give me back my hug back', he thought.

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To break it down simply, unlike the Culinary & Bartending Academy that increased the difficulty with each examination or stated that one had to pass the first 6 out of 9 examinations... the Law Academy's system was completely different from that.

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In essence, the law academy gave out a total of 7 examinations.

Here, the contestants were just supposed to get an overall grade of 50% or higher to get admittance into the academy.

Today, she had done 2 out of 7 examinations in total: an oral one, and a scenario one.

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Of course, the examinations weren't written ones.... as most of the peasants didn't know how to write..... so it would definitely night favour them if they were written.

Hence oral examinations, as well as scenario based examinations were the best choices.

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Well..... for the oral examinations, several letters were printed on large sheets of paper and placed on the walls, as well as written on the boards.

From there the examiners explained what each letter was.... just in case someone there didn't know how letter 'A' looked like.

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Also, in front of each of them, was a multiple choice answer sheet which had letter choices for each question.

So in essence, the examiner would read out a question... give them time to circle out the right answer and then proceed to the next one.

This was how the oral examinations were done.

And if anyone didn't know how to properly write out their names.... that wasn't a problem, as they were allowed to copy the names on their passports down.

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For the oral one, she had gotten a 53% grade at the end of it all.... but for the scenario one, she had ended up with a 22% grade instead.

But even though she got a 22% grade for that one, it still wants all that bad.

So at the end of it all, even if someone had 10% on all examinations today....if he or she could do well in the upcoming ones and managed to get an overall mark of 50% or higher, then they would still get in the end.

Hence George's advice for her to wait till August and take the next semester's examinations, felt like he was telling her to give up now.

She had 53% in one, and 22% in another..... even though they weren't great marks, why would she give up now?

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In truth, she failed her 2nd examination woefully,  because during one of the scenario examinations... she had chosen to let the murderer die, rather than try to place him/her in jail and allow him/her to atone for their sins.

She had chosen that because that was what she was used to seeing.

Right now.... even common chicken thieves or tomatoe thieves were out to death by burning or hanging without any trail at all.

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Bottom line, when someone pointed and said that one was guilty... then the rest of the peasants would also agree as well like sheep.

So for her, she was used to seeing people die without any fair trial.

So after she failed the scenario examination, the judges explained while they failed her..... and suddenly, her eyes lit up and her mind clicked like a lightbulb.

What if those that were accused were actually innocent?

It was the lawyers duty to hear the side of the accused... because sometimes, the real victims were the accused instead.

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She had cried uncontrollably earlier... because this was the first examination that she had taken in her entire life... as well as the first bad grade that she had ever received too.

So everything that she had been feeling right now was completely new to her.

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She really didn't like her grades, as she felt like she could've done better.

Hence when she remembered how some people even got 80% grades, why wouldn't she cry with her 22% and 53% ones?

Did those people who did better have 2 heads or 2 brains?

She just felt a little worthless and embarrassed to actually have such grades.

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Nonetheless, this also reminded her what she was meant to do next.

Because while her brother had previously done his own research in order to get into the Culinary & Bartending academy.

She on the other hand didn't do any damn research, since she felt like it would just be basic stuff that was asked there.

And that's why she felt like she should've done better.

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One should know that after today's examinations, she had overheard some people speak about how reading Baymard's laws and policies had helped them get some of the questions right.

If only she had studied more.... then she wouldn't have had such a shameful grade today.

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So after talking with her brother for a bit.... she hurriedly made her way to Baymard's public library..... because tomorrow, she still had 2 scheduled exams as well.

And she would be Damned if she got such marks again.

OVER HER DEAD BODY!!!

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And so just like that, a few more days had gone by with several people either wailing in sorrow or jumping in joy.

Some people who failed or got eliminated, started preparing for the Academy's next semester examinations.

While others still continued reading tirelessly, as they were still currently taking more examinations.

In the end, everyone..... be it peasants or wealthy people, had all agreed that these examinations were the hardest and strangest ones that they had ever taken in their lives.

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The pressure, the preparations, the research, the time... .... in short, the examination had drained them of everything, including their emotions and mental state.

And to make matters even more hilarious to them..... the academies all had multiple grief counselors present during the entire process.

These people walked around, gave inspiring words... and motivated those who didn't do well, lest someone thought of committing suicide from failing.

One could never tell.

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Of course while all this was going on in Baymard..... the cause and creator of all these examinations, had just arrived at his target's destination.

And on the enemy ship, several men were thoroughly confused by what they were seeing.

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"Captain! Captain!...  is it a giant bird?"

"Is it a shark?"

"No!!... it's a large metal boggle (Whale)!!!"

"_"