The assessment results were announced the next morning.
The associate professors could grade these papers with just a glance.
The entire special class crowded in front of the bulletin board in the department hall.
Richard walked into the hall from outside. The crowd automatically parted to make a path for him, their gazes filled with reverence.
He looked toward the bulletin board.
A red notice was posted on the board. The top line read: "Advanced Studies Program: Passed Candidates."
Below it, twenty names were listed in order.
First place.
Alexander Montague.
Second place.
Richard Williams.
Richard stood before the list for a few seconds, his gaze lingering on the top two names.
Voices offering congratulations rose from behind him, one after another.
"Williams, congratulations."
"Congratulations, Richard."
Richard turned and gave a slight bow to the group of his peers.
Turning back, he scanned further down the red notice.
Third place, fourth place... He stopped at the line for sixth place.
Catherine Blackwood.
Catherine walked over from the other side of the crowd, her face unreadable.
Based on her assessment score, she should have ranked higher than sixth.
But on the list, she had fallen to sixth.
It clicked for Richard.
He recalled a line of inconspicuous fine print at the bottom of a notice next to the bulletin board.
"Evaluation Criteria: Assessment Score + Comprehensive Quality Evaluation (based on development potential)."
’Comprehensive Quality Evaluation.’ Those were words with a hidden meaning.
Circuit stability, the resources a family could mobilize, wartime availability... and the marks in the notebook of that stone-faced representative from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
Richard understood at once.
The so-called "development potential" didn’t evaluate how you were doing right now.
It evaluated how high a tier you could climb to in the future.
Behind Montague stood an Expert of the Sun Tradition.
The resources he would need in the future—for his signatory rites, his first oath, and for climbing the ranks, tier by tier... his family had prepared it all for him.
Even if he was on par with Richard at present, in the eyes of the evaluators, the ceiling he could reach was simply higher than Richard’s.
Behind Richard was the Ashford Family, a beacon on the decline.
As for Catherine, it was even more obvious.
In her family’s generation, some were dead and others scattered. She had no one to support her.
The narrow crack of opportunity Professor Macphie had opened for her had only just appeared; it wasn’t enough to prop up her "development potential."
With this category weighing her down, she had plummeted from a potential third place all the way to sixth.
Standing before the list, a sentence Mr. Hutton had once said surfaced in Richard’s mind.
’...You don’t have a tree like that behind you.’
The "development potential" category was simply an evaluation of how tall that tree behind you was.
Richard’s gaze fell to the last few lines of the red notice.
Eighteenth place, Edith Carter.
He glanced toward the other end of the hall.
Edith stood in the furthest corner, clutching the book she never went anywhere without.
Her way of reading the list was to start from the bottom and go up. The moment she saw her name, she visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
In terms of assessment scores, her foundation was still a bit weak, putting her somewhere around fifteenth place.
Add to that the "development potential" category—as the daughter of a mill worker who hauled sacks of flour, she had nothing behind her.
She should have been knocked off the list, but she had remained.
Richard knew what had happened. Old Ke would occasionally keep the two of them after a small lesson for some extra tutoring, and he had mentioned it once.
There were always one or two students admitted by recommendation at the academy each year.
As long as they performed reasonably well, a few associate professors would usually be willing to put in a good word for them.
Thinking of this, Richard scanned the twenty names from top to bottom one more time.
No Philips.
He looked again. Still nothing.
Richard frowned.
’So Philips really failed.’
He left the department hall and walked around to the back of the building, under the old plane trees.
A certain young master was sitting on the stone steps, showing no sign of distress over his failure.
A pot of tea sat before him, and in his hand was still that copy of Metamorphosis.
Hearing footsteps, he looked up and smiled at Richard.
"You’re here?"
"...You failed," Richard said, sitting down next to him.
"I know." Philips poured the tea and handed him a cup.
"I went to see for myself first thing this morning. My name wasn’t on it from top to bottom."
Richard took the tea but didn’t drink.
"So what will you do now? Do you have another path?"
"Sure do. The Royal Academy." Philips casually revealed his hand.
"My dad pulled some strings a long time ago. There are even more children of nobility there than at Imperial University. In terms of pomp and circumstance, it’s a step up, not down."
"And in terms of academics?" Richard asked.
"A notch below," Philips said with complete composure.
"But it’s only a notch. It’s the perfect place for someone like me.
"I’ll muddle my way into a lecturer position, read the books I want to read, and live a comfortable life."
Richard took a sip of tea and said no more.
"But there is one thing that pisses me off..."
Philips set his cup down heavily.
"That punk Oliver," he said sullenly. "He’s over there too."
Richard remembered now. No wonder he hadn’t seen the guy during this summer’s advanced studies program.
"Looks like you’ll be classmates this time. Try to get along."
Philips shot him an irritated glance.
He then slapped his copy of Metamorphosis, as if he were slapping Oliver’s head.
"If I’d known, I would’ve at least put some real effort into those assignments."
The two of them sat side-by-side on the stone steps and finished the pot of tea.
.........
At noon, Isabella paid a visit to the dormitory.
She was carrying a food container.
"Since the exam is over,"
His aunt placed the food container on the table.
"Don’t do any more reading today. Give your brain a break."

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