The next day. Kaelan was sitting quietly listening to a Foreign Language lesson when a picket student knocked on the classroom door. "Excuse me Miss, Kael is called to the Principal's office right now." The whole class turned around immediately. Brad who was sitting behind Kaelan patted his boss's back slowly. "Trouble Boss, what problem is this again? Is it because Ivan complained to his father?" Brad whispered anxiously. Kaelan just shrugged. He felt he did not do anything wrong. He stood up, walked out of the classroom calmly, walking down the corridor toward the main building. When Kaelan opened the Principal's office door, his forehead wrinkled slightly. The room was not like usual. There, sat the Principal, Mr. Winston, in his throne chair. However, he was not alone. On the left and right sides of the long table, sat side by side the subject teachers of the third grade Middle School. There were Mr. Gunther the Mathematics teacher, Mr. Silas the Physics teacher, Mrs. Ril

Days continued to pass, to head to the Academic Competition was only a few days away. The atmosphere in the special guidance room of Ashvale First Middle School felt tense. The two third-grade female students chosen to represent the school had been preparing themselves since three weeks ago. They were Sarah and Diana. Both of them were consecutive overall champions since the first grade. Thick glasses, piles of books, and serious faces were their daily identity. However, there was one thing that made them confused and restless. The competition team was supposed to consist of three people. But until today, the third seat was still empty. "Diana, is Mr. Principal serious?" Sarah complained while spinning her pen anxiously. "The competition is only two days away, but the last member has never shown up. We have never practiced together. What if the chemistry is not forged later?" Diana snorted annoyed while turning a History book page. "Who knows. Don't let the school give up looking

The District Multipurpose Building felt different today. Thousands of students crowded the stands. Colorful banners fluttered. The sounds of trumpets and cheers echoed, creating deafening noise pollution. In the corner of the participants' waiting room, the Ashvale First Middle School team sat isolated. Sarah and Diana, the two smartest female students in their school, now looked like chicks that lost their mother. Their faces were pale, their hands trembled holding their already crumpled notebooks. They were surrounded by elite school uniforms that were neat, fragrant, and full of confidence. "Look at that, the school from the village joined again," whispered a student with thick glasses from Starbridge Middle School, the defending champion whose uniform was coated with a flashy alma mater jacket. "What a pity. Last year they went home crying in the preliminary round. What for did they come again? Only wasting fuel money," his friend chimed in while laughing crisply, intentionall

The afternoon sun of the capital city felt much more stinging than in the village. The rented bus that brought the Ashvale First Middle School group finally hissed to a stop in front of the lobby of a five-star accommodation in the central area of the capital city. Grand Imperial Hotel. This was the official accommodation facility provided by the committee for the finalists of the National Level Academic Competition. Mr. Winston stepped down from the bus with a slight tremble. He tidied his suit which was slightly wrinkled due to sitting too long. His eyes swept the giant pillars in the towering hotel lobby, making him feel dwarfed instantly. "Children, listen to me," whispered Mr. Winston with a hoarse voice due to nervousness. "Watch your attitude. Do not do anything embarrassing. We are carrying the name of our region and school. Do not let the city people think we are hillbillies." Sarah and Diana nodded stiffly. Their faces were pale. They squeezed their backpack straps tigh

"Once you perform the inversion, those three complicated circles will be mapped into two parallel straight lines enclosing a single circle. That's basic geometry that even an elementary school child could solve." Raymond's breath caught. His eyes widened in horror as the realization struck his mind. He had just realized the shortcut that had been invisible to him for the past twenty minutes. "The area of the shaded region isn't twenty-four square root of three... because you calculated the area under the curve, not the area between the arcs." Kaelan leaned closer, delivering the final verdict. "But twenty-four square root of two minus Pi. You forgot to subtract the sector's area after transforming it back into the real world. A beginner's mistake." Silence. Complete silence. Raymond's hands trembled violently. Cold sweat trickled down his temple, wetting the screen of his expensive device. He hurriedly looked at the digital slate's screen, erased the long sequence of integral fo