A genius student? Ha, they're nothing but ants at your feet!

While the real world is peaceful and warm.

On the academic forums on the other side of the internet, things were in complete chaos.

A giant, bold, red-highlighted pinned post was prominently displayed on the homepage.

[Su Hao, parachuted into Logia!]

[Just confirmed he finished his placement matches! My God, a direct jump to the top? This is an unprecedented initial placement of S-tier in Logia history!]

[100% accuracy, average response time absurdly low 4.2 seconds! Is this even a human-achievable speed? Holy crap, that's incredible!]

[To break into the top 100 on your first login, stepping over countless veterans? That's truly impressive, you have to admire it.]

This is a battle of the gods.

The entire internet's attention was drawn to it.

What was once a stagnant list has instantly transformed into a super arena for Stanford vs. MIT!

A know-it-all started explaining things in the thread:

[I heard the season will end in two weeks? The system has already said so.]

The top-ranked player receives a unique crown emblem, and the top 100 receive special badges.

Don't even mention it, I ran into a quantum mechanics trap in my placement matches and completely messed up, I was relegated to the bottom.

Hopefully I can just barely scrape by and get an A grade next season... In this situation, only a god could survive.

"Hahaha!"

Inside a luxurious single apartment.

Theodore scrolled through the forum, letting out a burst of laughter that was somewhat manic.

"Su Hao, you're finally here."

He clutched his chest, feeling the long-lost thrill of his rapidly beating heart.

That's the excitement a hunter feels when he sees a perfect prey.

He thought to himself, "This kid is really good at keeping his cool."

He waited until the very end of the season before finally making an appearance.

You see, in order to catch this big fish, Su Hao, from the bottom of the water...

He, Theodore, the aloof and dignified academic god, even went against his nature and posted that kind of low-level provocative post on the forum!

Thinking back on those cringeworthy, childish remarks now makes him feel uncomfortable all over, and he feels like he could eat the keyboard!

Theodore glanced at the corner of the desk.

The place was filled with his calculation manuscripts written in order to solve a world-class conjecture.

"I'll only play for two weeks. Once I get that lousy crown at the top of the leaderboard, I'll immediately go back to my research project."

Theodore had already envisioned the perfect script in his mind:

He racked up a score on Logia that drove everyone to despair and delete their accounts.

Then, as a living legend, he gracefully retired on a snowy night, leaving behind only a lonely, invincible figure.

This is the ultimate level of showing off.

Su Hao was indeed a genius, but Theodore believed that his strength was by no means inferior.

As Stanford's top prodigy, he also possessed the qualities to dominate the era.

So far, he has never really taken answering questions on Logia seriously.

the reason is simple.

The height is not cold.

Because none of those mediocre people were worthy of his consideration as rivals.

With a click of the mouse, the system successfully matched.

[Logia Advanced Problem Set]

Difficulty Level: S+

Pass rate: 0.2%

[Would you accept the challenge?]

(Y/N)

He gave a disdainful laugh.

He pushed the expensive coffee cup aside and casually stretched his wrists.

"This throne needs someone to guard it, doesn't it?"

He pressed the Enter key heavily with his finger.

Click.

The extremely complex questions appeared on the screen.

Theodore glanced at it only once, and a smile immediately appeared on his lips.

"Wow. This AI is getting more and more human-like in its question-setting. It's even learned to set traps."

This is not an ordinary differential equation.

The problem statement cleverly intertwines topology and variational methods like a maze.

What's even more bizarre is that it even subtly incorporates the framework of quantum probabilistic interpretation!

Theodore raised an eyebrow.

Without hesitation, he picked up a pen and began to deduce the problem.

"A mere pile of code dares to presume to show off its limited knowledge in the face of human intelligence!"

Theodore's chest was surging with burning fighting spirit.

He displayed the highest level of focus he had shown since registering with Logia, his pen moving swiftly and smoothly as he solved this complex problem without even pausing.

Unstoppable!

Then he solved three more problems in a row!

He not only regained his peak form, but also made up for all the points he carelessly lost yesterday.

[1st Place: Theodore Langford / S+ / Stanford / US / 998.7]

Looking at the score that wasn't perfect.

He secretly regretted that he hadn't been so careless yesterday and hadn't misread the hidden conditions of the question.

But it doesn't matter, he'll always be number one.

He switched to the global leaderboard, tapped his fingers on the keyboard, and began typing Su Hao's ID into the search box.

The roller slid down all the way.

Sudden.

Theodore's fingers, which were tapping the mouse, froze.

[46th Place: Su Hao/S/MIT/CN/932.1]

"Only one day?!"

Even he himself had never achieved such an insane speed when he was ranking up!

This is nothing short of a massacre!

After the initial shock, Theodore's expression gradually became excited, even bordering on fanatical.

"Hehehe. Looks like you've been keeping an eye on me in secret, huh?"

Yeah, right! Seeing me sitting firmly at the top of the list, you must be incredibly anxious, wishing you could fly up and bite me.

"Hmph, then let's chase after him with all our might!"

The intense, prolonged mental stimulation he had just experienced, coupled with the dramatic emotional swings, left him feeling incredibly hungry.

He put away his laptop, stood up, and prepared to replenish his energy.

I thought about it for a bit.

Theodore grabbed his coat and decided to grab a bite at the lakeside restaurant that served late-night diners.

Even though it was late at night, the restaurant was still brightly lit.

Groups of Stanford students sat together, some enjoying fried chicken and hamburgers, others frantically typing away at their keyboards, their fingers clattering across the screen.

Theodore picked up his tray and slowly joined the line for food.

"Um?"

His peripheral vision caught sight of a table not far away.

On one student's screen, Logia's signature dark blue system interface was lit up.

The boy, dressed like a hacker with a red hoodie covering his head, was staring intently at the screen.

Judging from his scratching his head and the way he seemed to want to bury his head in the screen, he was clearly struggling with a difficult problem.

Theodore sneered inwardly.

He pitied that ridiculous effort.

After all, in this game of kings, the winner's name has already been determined, and it's not up to these mortals to struggle.

He shook his head, just about to turn around and go to the window to get his food.

However, the next second, the boy in the red hoodie realized that time was running out and he was sweating profusely. He waved his hand, and three or four more students carrying trays gathered around him.

A group of people actually started whispering and "teaming up" to solve the problem, just like playing a game in an internet cafe!

"The boundary condition for integration in this section is incorrect. The derivative is negative."

"Wait, we must extract the logarithmic term!"

"No, that would cause the constant term to diverge. Logia's problems are definitely not that simple."