My health recovery is incredibly fast.

They usually sat facing each other, but tonight she changed her spot and sat down next to her. She proactively served the person next to her a bowl of food from the pot and brought them their favorite drink.

tsk tsk~

Did the little gift I gave you yesterday really have that much power?

Xia Zuo enjoyed the delicious seafood with a smile, occasionally taking a sip of his instant beverage.

He didn't forget to pick up a soup spoon and serve Anru a bowl of her favorite squid tentacles, then refill her empty glass with juice.

What should have been a dinner that took only ten minutes or so turned into a long dinner that lasted until after 6 p.m., with everyone in such a romantic mood.

Xia Zuo escorted An Ru'er into the dormitory corridor, then hurriedly ran into the poison alchemy area, keeping watch to arrive before the instructor's usual evening class.

"Professor, I'm here."

As soon as he stepped into the basic alchemy room, he saw a dozen wooden baskets on the ground, leaving only a narrow passageway for people to walk through.

Kulov sat behind his desk and pointed to the wooden chair opposite him. "You can grade the two boxes of test papers next to the chair. Leave the rest to me. The correct answers are in the notebook next to the desk."

"Yes."

Xia Zuo slowly moved his feet, sat down at the desk, and bent down to pick up the wooden box used for the exam from the wooden frame.

A fountain pen filled with red ink was manipulated by the instructor to float to his side.

He gripped the pen, uncapped it, found the latch on the wooden box, and opened the lid.

Xia Zuo glanced at the name on the exam paper cover and immediately found the corresponding character template in [Knowledge Reserve].

This is a complete stranger; the two of them have never spoken in the past few months. He is from the Department of Functional Pharmacy.

The handwriting on the exam paper was fairly neat, and the accuracy rate for the multiple-choice questions was very high, with only 15 points deducted. It seems a lot of effort was put into memorizing the key points.

Unfortunately, I lost a lot of points on the word problems, totaling more than 200 points, all due to a lack of practical experience.

Xia Zuo scratched his cheek suspiciously.

Could it be that the study materials containing the operational experience of poison alchemy have not been leaked yet?

Before the final exams last semester, he prepared a study guide for each of Anruer, Keli, and Xiaomoben.

Needless to say, An Ru'er is very obedient and will definitely protect the exam preparation materials and textbooks with marked exam points very well.

Xiao Mo is not good at socializing and is rather dull. He is the type of person who will not voluntarily reveal secrets.

They rarely met Keli, and the study materials were delivered through Anruer.

Who is most likely to leak their study materials to others?

Xia Zuo subconsciously thought it was Claire Muller, whom he had the least contact with.

This is baseless speculation, and he wouldn't mention it to anyone. Besides, there was no leak.

However, why must we include questions in the application problems that require practical experience to answer?

Xia Zuo looked up at his mentor, hesitated for a few seconds, and then asked the question.

Kulov, arms crossed, manipulating three pens to correct papers, paused for a moment after hearing the student's question, and then said:

"Meditation, as its name suggests, is a method of meditation. Entering a meditative state is no less difficult than imagining alchemical operations out of thin air. You'll understand once you get the beginner-level meditation method."

The instructor's implication was that the application problems would be used to filter out students who were not suitable for practicing meditation.

Xia Zuo nodded knowingly, put the test paper in his hand aside, and bent down to pick up the next wooden box.

Approximately 1 hours later.

A stack of graded test papers was piled on the left, and there were several wooden boxes in a wooden frame at the feet.

Xia Zuo put down his pen, twisted his wrist to rest, and then opened the wooden box in front of him.

A familiar name appeared on the exam paper cover:

Claire Muller, Functional Pharmacy.

Xia Zuo stared at the scroll and blinked.

I actually ran into one.

He had just graded more than a dozen exam papers from students in the same subject, and he had a premonition that he would run into one from an acquaintance.

Keli's handwriting is just as delicate as Anru's, with shorter strokes that make it look more efficient.

You did very well on the multiple-choice questions, only getting one wrong, which cost you 2 points.

For word problems...

Xia Zuo was somewhat embarrassed.

This exam paper tests knowledge of the book "Isolation of Toxins," and will cover a lot of methods for isolating basic toxins and their sources.

Most basic toxins do not originate from a single source. The same basic toxin will generally appear in several similar substances.

For example, cumin.

It is one of the two main ingredients of black eye toxin. It comes from dried, old vines. There are seven types of vines that can be used.

There are seven types of vines, and you must write each one in your answer to get points.

They each have their own scientific names and common names.

I should have written my academic name during the exam.

But Keli was probably dizzy from answering the questions, so she used a colloquial term to refer to one of the rattan types.

Logically speaking, she should have lost 1 point on her test.

The awkward thing is that she was just one point short of passing.

When taking make-up exams, the number of subjects each student has to take is different. Therefore, passing is determined by the score of each individual exam, not by the total score of all make-up exams.

If Xia Zuo deducts 1 point, then Ke Li will have to retake "The Separation of Toxins".

"Professor, if I use colloquial terms to refer to raw materials when answering word problems, will I lose points?"

Xia Zuo raised his head and asked, then added:

"Claire Muller is just one point away from passing."

“Hmm…” Kulov pondered for a moment, “Let’s count her points. But only in this case.”

"Yes." Xia Zuo nodded in response, feeling relieved.

He wrote the score on Ke Li's test paper and then placed it on his right.

The following exam papers were also from the Functional Pharmacy discipline. Of the 20 papers in total, only Keli passed.

It wasn't that Xia Zuo didn't want to go easy on the other students; it was just that there was really nowhere on their papers that could be given marks.

9 pm.

The teachers and students at the desks put down their pens at the same time.

Kulov flipped through the papers that Shazo had graded and put them on the corner of the table:

"Very good, no mistakes. Go back and rest. We'll grade the next exam tomorrow night."

"See you tomorrow morning, Professor."

Xia Zuo walked towards the door, the message from his cheat system appearing in his mind:

"Successfully graded 20 test papers with a 100% accuracy rate, gaining 20 experience points."

"【Level】LV12"

"[Experience] 1132 + 20 → 1152/1600 points"

The number of papers to be graded in the next two days should also be 20, totaling 60 points over three days, which is equivalent to tasting five or six bottles of refined white palate poison.

The temporary teaching assistant position offers less experience, but the advantage is a monthly salary of 20 silver coins. It might be easier to accept the experience reward as a bonus to the generous salary.

Over the next two days, Xia Zuo spent his days refining poison powder and taking time to test the poison for rewards. In the evenings, he would work with his mentor in the basic alchemy lab to grade exam papers.

On the night the three exams for Poison Alchemy ended, both teacher and student breathed a sigh of relief.

One longed to return to the plush sofa to meditate, while the other yearned to immerse himself in the advanced alchemy lab, tirelessly concocting poisons day and night…

Chapter 37 Welcoming New Students

In the days that followed, the teacher and student, separated by only a wall, would chat briefly before get out of class ended each evening, otherwise each doing their own thing, completely immersed in their own interests.

Xia Zuo would have meals with Anru every morning, noon, and evening, exchanging insights and experiences in alchemy. The academy was heavily guarded by Dim, making intimacy impossible; at most, they would hug before meeting or parting.

Day after day, it seemed as if these peaceful days would continue forever.

About three weeks later, on a Sunday morning.

The weather is nice today, sunny and warm.

It's perfect for couples to lean on each other, sit at a table on the edge of the restaurant's terrace, and gaze at the shimmering lake view.

Xia Zuo stood with his back to the restaurant entrance, facing the lake, with An Ru'er reading a book beside him.

A few noises came from behind me.

He turned his head, peeked out from behind the chair, and peered at the scene at the other end of the restaurant.

A group of students were gathered around a large square table, loudly discussing the matter of retaking the course.

It seems the results of the make-up exam have already been released.

Judging from the results of grading the Poison Alchemy exam, out of more than 100 students, only about 2 to 3 will be able to pass all the make-up exams on their first attempt. The rest will have to retake the course.

Actually, rebuilding isn't so bad.

Students can exchange points for the Warrior Guild based on their study time, and enjoy sumptuous meals within the academy for free.

But sometimes, people's hearts are hard to predict.

Do you remember who passed the first exam? There were 6 people in total.

In the field of poison alchemy, there was only one student who passed the exam with a perfect score.

The Alchemy of Curious Objects, one of the three branches with the fewest students—the Study of Curious Objects and the Study of Elemental Representation—has 3 and 1 students respectively.