I Reincarnated Into A Single-Celled Organism! - I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 172

I finished my exam after an hour or so and went up to hand it in. Penny wore an irritated expression. It looked like she was only about half done.

“To pass the exam, one must get higher than 80%,” the receptionist stated once I handed her the exam.

“So strenuous?” I asked, feeling a bit down.

Perhaps, I had overestimated my ability. Memorizing content wasn’t a substitute for understanding problem-solving. Destiny noticed my depressed look and she patted my shoulder.

“It’s alright. I can’t even pass the first exam. You can always do the botany exam…”

“That’s right!” I recalled, causing her to jump a little as I headed back to the desk. “Can I take the botany exam now?”

“You want to take it?”

“I’m here, aren’t I?”

She made a face, but she still got the exam. The paperwork went much faster and soon I was taking the botany exam. This one felt familiar. They were mostly new questions, but I had already gotten familiar with the style and was able to blow through them with ease. I finished up with the botany exam about the same time that Penny finished up her alchemy exam. We ended up handing them in together.

“Hmph, trying to look impressive. We’ll see the result of the scores.” She glared at me before flipping her hair and turning away.

The receptionist had to call in an instructor to do the official grading. We could have left and returned later for our results, but I was eager to get the kilojoules. Even if I wasn’t fated to get the thousand, I would at least get the hundred kilojoule payout. It was better than nothing. It took about an hour, but an old man arrived, and after glancing at the group of us waiting, he let out a sigh.

“Do we need to be so prompt with these grades? Can’t we just submit the results at the end of the week?” he muttered.

The receptionist couldn’t help but shrug, and the man grabbed the papers and started his work. As he graded, he’d occasionally mumbled to himself.  Penny looked extremely nervous, but I sat back and waited patiently. It seemed like people did do whatever they felt like in the Academy since the two sisters and Ronald were idly still with us. Ronald occasionally tried to start a conversation, but Fate only gave him a cold look and Destiny didn’t seem interested unless I was involved in the conversation.

“Hm!” The instructor suddenly perked up. “Oh?”

The longer he graded, the better his mood got. Penny could no longer hide her nervousness. She was staring at him with an expression filled with hope. It was only another ten minutes when he finished up and tidied up the pages before returning to the receptionist. He whispered a few words into her ear, and she shot him a surprised look.

“Seriously?” she whispered in disbelief.

“Just go!” He practically waved her out the door.

As soon as she was gone, he turned to the pair of us with a smile on his face. “Well, it seems like we have new alchemists in our midst. I must say, I’ve rarely seen such a sight.”

“I-I passed?” Penny asked.

He smiled and nodded. “You got an 82%. I suspect you’ll be able to officially become an alchemist soon.”

She let out a laugh which almost broke into tears.

“Congratulations.” I smiled at her.

“Mm!” She nodded happily, but then she looked away, wiping her cheeks. “I mean, it’s only what’s expected.”

“Your name, Penelope Capala, I heard that you’re training under Grandmaster Bai?” the old man asked.

“Yes! He’s teaching me.” She managed to settle down now that she knew the result. “He said I still needed a month or two until I could try the exam. However, after seeing him decide to take it, I decided to give it a shot.”

“Him…” He looked at me. “You must be Spirit, right?”

I nodded. “I am…”

“I heard that you recently passed the herbalist exam. I never heard anyone talk so excitedly about a mere herbalist, but then I heard that you passed the botany exam.”

“Yes, sir… is that a problem?” I asked.

“Well, the excitement wasn’t misplaced on you.” He nodded. “It was no accident. You also got 100% on this botany exam.”

His words finally caused Fate’s expression to change. Like Destiny and Ronald, she had a lot of shock in her eyes. I had said I had passed the botany exam, but it took hearing it for them to truly accept it. Plus, I didn’t just pass, but I got a perfect score.

“Hmm… well, maybe he has some uses,” Penny muttered, but I could tell she was just content and in a good mood over her own results.

“The reward?” I asked hopefully.

“Although you already passed the exam, you weren’t promoted for reasons I do not understand. Technically, you are within the conditions, so you will receive your award.”

“Thank you.” I let out a breath of relief.

I had been worried that they were going to pull some kind of shenanigans and try to refuse to reward me, but it looked like I had been thinking too hard. The academy wasn’t run by the nobles or Grandmaster Bai, so they had no reason to put up any roadblocks or make things difficult for me.

“Now, I heard you also took the alchemy exam.” The instructor’s expression turned serious, lifting the paper in his hand. “This is your exam, correct?”

“It is…” I grimaced.

“I hope you might have learned something from this. You might have an incredible memory, but becoming an alchemist requires more than just a good memory. It was clear as I graded this that you lack practical experience. Dare I say, your answers were too mechanical.”

I nodded, closing my eyes. “I understand.”

“Mmhmm,” Penny hummed as if everything was right in the world.

“That said…” He let out a long deliberate sigh. “You still gave creative answers, and your mastery of the basics is unrivaled. You have also passed the alchemy exam.”

My eyes snapped open to see the old man grinning. This bastard was pretty good at being dramatic, I had to give it to him. I was still curious.

“What score?” I asked.

“You got an 87%. I highly recommend you take the awards from this and buy a practice furnace and herbs. Within a month or two of practice, I’m confident you’d be able to pass the alchemy exam, both parts.”

It was Penny’s time to wear an expression of shock. “87%? H-he did better than me?”

She shook her head as if she was trying to deny it, but after looking at us and shaking her head three more times, she still struggled to accept the truth. I felt a bit disappointed. I had been hoping to do better. An 87% was barely passing, as far as I was concerned. Ah, well, at least it was enough to earn the prize.

A short time later, the receptionist returned. She had three pouches in her hand. One was silver, and the other two were gold. She handed one gold pouch to Penny and then the gold and silver pouch to me.

I checked inside to see that they were the kilojoules I had been looking for. After storing them in my luminal space, I was feeling way more relaxed. The instructor still had a bit more to say to us. Mostly, he told me where I could acquire some learning materials for cheap and encouraged me to do that. Penny still looked to be in a daze.

When he finally let us go, I returned to the three waiting for us. “Well, that was fun. First, I got a pill and a life-saving treasure, and then I got 1100 kilowatts. Where else do you have for me?”

I didn’t regret coming to this Academy at all. It was very profitable!

“That lecture should be happening soon.” Penny seemed to perk up.

We had spent the majority of the day in this exam room, and the sun was close to setting.

“We should start heading over to the lecture,” Destiny announced. “It’ll be starting soon.”

Penny glanced at the other three with slight surprise. “Oh… you know about it too…”

“Of course we do, why wouldn’t we?” Destiny replied.

Penny looked away haughtily but didn’t immediately reply. I had a feeling she had no desire to spoil the good mood her results had put her in. “I’m headed there as well. Shall we?”

“Yes!” Ronald said alone, clearly thrilled.

Perhaps, it was this lecture that had been the reason they had followed me the entire day. I was starting to think I was just that charismatic. The group of us left the mythic labs and began our trek across campus to the lecturing pavilions. Most of them were outdoors, giant basins lined with seats with a central stage.

“Do you know who the speaker is?” Destiny asked. She and Fate must have only known that the event was taking place, but not the specifics of it.

“She’s a researcher at the Academy,” Penny answered. “I have never met her myself, but I have heard she’s an absolute genius when it comes to mana and barriers. She’s a student under one of the Provost’s disciples. She’s a true genius of the capital academy.”

As Penny spoke excitedly, I started getting a foreboding feeling. As soon as we reached the crater, I could see only a few dozen students, all of them from the major houses or their lackeys. However, when I looked at the stage, I saw someone I was already familiar with.

“Spirit!” the guest lecturer suddenly cried out, causing everyone present to glance at me.

“Erika… it’s been a while.”

It appeared that the guest speaker was none other than the girl I had traveled to the city with not so ago.