Chapter 3  : A True Genius Would Never Waste His Time

“Mission begin!”

Lu Zhou closed his eyes and whispered the words. He did it two more times just in case it was not enough.

When he opened his eyes, he saw a line of semi-transparent words floating in front of him.

[Mission three begins. Current time: 0 hour. Timer stops when exiting the library.]

Lu Zhou was startled by the words that appeared suddenly. He looked around the area and when he saw a student walked right through the semi-transparent words, he started to relax.

It turned out that no one else could see the system’s words.

Anyways, spend 24 hours reading a couple of books in the library and the mission should be completed, right?

Lu Zhou walked towards the mathematics section as it was better than nothing. He was about to browse through the books when he suddenly noticed that the books had number labels. In addition, there was a pattern in the color of these number labels. As the numbers went from large to small, the colors went from red to gray.

[Di Donne’s Foundation of Modern Analysis, 10]

[Linear-Algebra (Greub), 0]

[New Mathematical Analysis Lectures, 100]

[...]

What the hell?!

Lu Zhou suddenly recalled mission three’s rewards. The mission’s experience points were awarded based on the value score of the books.

In other words, if all he did was to stay in the library, he would only get the lucky draw ticket.

A true genius would never waste his time at the library!

Lu Zhou gulped as he thought about it.

However, there was one thing he did not understand. Why did the advanced mathematical textbooks had such low value scores while the beginner mathematical textbooks had such high value scores?

Especially given that “Di Donne’s Foundation of Modern Analysis” was heavily endorsed and recommended by his teacher as a “must read”. It was very difficult for students to fully comprehend this textbook. One would need to be at least familiar with real and general functions in order to understand it.

He suddenly remembered that in his characteristic panel, his mathematical level was 0. He was mildly stunned by it.

No wonder!

Maybe the so-called value scores are based on his current knowledge level?

The so-called value scores had two sides. Take Riemann’s conjecture as an example. It added significant value to the academic world with thousands of mathematical theories built on the foundations of Riemann’s conjecture. Its value was therefore extremely high. However, with regards to Lu Zhou, it would be very difficult for him to understand Riemann’s conjecture and it would not help him in his studies. Therefore, the value score was zero.

Lu Zhou understood the value scores and did not hesitate before picking up “New Mathematical Analysis Lectures”.

Coincidentally, the exams for his Mathematical Analysis 2 were in two weeks. He did not fully understand some of the harder topics so this would count as his revision.

When he found a seat, he sat down and began to read the mathematical analysis book.

To be honest, he did not really like to dive deep into mathematics, but surprisingly, he was able to tolerate reading the book.

He did not know if it was due to the effect of the system, but he felt himself gradually entering into a state of full concentration. It was almost as if he forgot about everything around him. There were only himself and his book. Nothing else existed.

As time slowly passed by, there were fewer and fewer people in the library. Lu Zhou was unaffected by it. He was still deeply immersed in the book’s ocean of knowledge.

Someone tapped his shoulder and knocked him out of the state of “immersion”.

“Student, it’s 10 o’clock, the library is about to close,” said the librarian.

Lu Zhou quickly stood up before inserting a bookmark into the textbook. He said, “Oh, sorry. I forgot about the time. I’ll clean up right now.”

“Don’t sweat it. I’ve been working here for many years and this is the first time I’ve seen a student this focused on a mathematics book,” said the librarian.

“Can I still borrow books? I want to borrow this book,” said Lu Zhou. He was still fascinated by the concentration he had earlier and he felt a sense of incompleteness.

He had never been this addicted to solving a math problem before.

It was almost as if he was reading a novel and not a textbook. A novel that contained the life of mathematics.

The librarian saw how polite he was and so, she swiftly said, “It’s okay. Go and borrow it if you want to. The computer is still on and I’ll help you to process it. Did you bring your library card?”

Lu Zhou sincerely said, “I brought it... Thank you!”

“No worries!”

Lu Zhou stuffed the textbook into his bag and quickly left the library.

He passed through the holographic panel and the mission timer paused.

However, Lu Zhou’s attention was elsewhere. He did not want to waste even a second. He only wanted to return back to that magical reading experience.

He went back to his dorm. His other two roommates were back and they were playing League of Legends.

Huang Guangming heard the door being opened. He was fighting intensely with his teammates and did not even turned his head to say, “Buddy Zhou, league?”

He exaggeratedly pronounced the word “league” as it was their phrase to invite someone to fight on the summoner’s rift.

“Not today. I still have some stuff to do. You guys can play, right?”

Shi Shangteng pushed the opponents back and had a moment to spare. He looked back and saw Lu Zhou sitting down and reading a textbook that he pulled from his backpack. He suddenly shouted, “What the f*ck! Lu Zhou, when did you love studying so much?”

Liu Rui heard Lu Zhou was reading so he forced himself to look over at Lu Zhou’s table.

Lu Zhou laughed. It was too difficult to explain so he made up an excuse, “Isn’t it exam period soon? I still don’t understand a lot of the topics. If I don’t revise now, it’ll be too late. I’ll league with you guys after the exams.”

“F*ck trying! Just pass the exam!” said Huang Guangming as he fiercely clicked the mouse to attack the enemy’s nexus towers.

If Lu Zhou recalled correctly, Huang Guangming said the same thing last semester. Although Huang Guangming’s “Mathematics 1” exam score was 89, it was only 1 mark lower than the genius, Liu Rui’s.

Everybody was secretly working hard.

Lu Zhou laughed and did not say much. He flipped to the bookmarked page and focused on the textbook.

seconds passed.

seconds passed.

minutes passed.

He heard the sound of victory coming from behind him. Lu Zhou did not even finish reading two pages before going back to where he started. The words were not entering his head.

“Haha! Silver 4! I ranked up!” said Huang Guangming arrogantly while he leaned back on his chair.

“I carried you, you trash,” said Shi Shang while leaning back on his chair and stretching his back.

“You didn’t carry me. I killed the marksman instantly with my amazing Leblanc.”

“Amazing, my ass. Stop talking sh*t when you just got lucky. I carried you from elo hell 1 . I had to smurf to bring your ass up to silver. You even forgot to get the first win of the day yesterday!”

There was no way for Lu Zhou to concentrate.

It was not because his roommates were talking. He just could not focus his attention on the textbook. His state of mind now was akin to his usual state of studying. The slightest distraction would disrupt his thought process.

Back at the library, there were people talking and moving, but he could still fully immerse himself in the world of the textbook.

Lu Zhou took a deep breath and put down the “New Mathematical Analysis Lectures” book.

Maybe, it was the power of the system?