Dudian nodded slightly. A few days ago, Mr. and Mrs. Gray had already mentioned this matter to him. They both expressed the hope that he could inherit Gray's sewing skills and become an excellent tailor. However, Dudian already had a goal in mind and directly refused.
Mr. and Mrs. Gray were not angry. It was a good thing for a child to have his own opinions. They were not a serf family who would worry that a child with too many opinions would easily get into trouble.
"It's a pity. It's too difficult to get started as a doctor. If you had followed me since you were a child, there might still have been a hope for you to learn it," Jula said with a trace of regret as she pinched a vegetable roll. Dudian was a smart child, but it was a pity that he started too late. By the time he became an independent doctor, he would have already passed the age when a doctor's senses were the most acute.
"Tell us, what do you want to study?" Gray smiled slightly.
Dudian looked up at them and said, "Law."
"Law?" Mr. and Mrs. Gray were taken aback. Jula quickly said, "Dian, do you know what kind of profession this is?"
"I know. It's one of the three commoner professions, just like being a doctor," Dudian said. When he received the occupation list given by Gray at the beginning, he locked onto this profession immediately. For him, if he wanted to understand the differences between this world and the modern world as quickly as possible, this profession was the most suitable.
Gray said solemnly, "You have to think clearly. The Law Academy is the most difficult. It's even more difficult than becoming a doctor. It requires very flexible thinking and logical ability. Although you are a smart and well-behaved child, you didn't receive basic education in the orphanage. It will be very difficult for you to graduate from the Law Academy and become a qualified Priest (priest in charge of legal affairs)."
Dudian looked directly at him and insisted, "This is what I want to study."
Gray frowned slightly. This was the first time Dudian had been so persistent in front of them, leaving him a bit at a loss as to how to refuse. Since being rejected by the Ivy family last time, he had let go of some of his previous thoughts and regarded Dudian as his own real child. Therefore, he didn't want to hurt their feelings easily.
Seeing how serious Dudian was, Jula tugged at Gray's sleeve and said, "Since the child wants to study it, let him. Even if he can't enter the 'Tribunal' in the end, being an ordinary lawyer is also good. At least he will be familiar with the law and won't break the law knowingly. As long as he is safe and sound, that's fine."
Dudian glanced at her and thought silently in his heart, I'm not studying the law to abide by it, but to break it!
Gray sighed and said, "Well, let's just go with what he wants."
Dudian felt relieved and took a deep look at them, saying, "Thank you!"
Upon hearing Dudian's words, Gray smiled again and said, "Since you've made your choice, you have to stick with it. If you don't want to study it in the end, come back and learn sewing from me. Being a textile worker can also support yourself."
Dudian nodded slightly.
...
...
When the Black Death Season arrived, the temperature warmed up a lot.
Three days before the start of the academy term, there was a specific festival called the "Prayer Day."
Families in groups went to the front of the Veya Cathedral in the center of the residential area to pray to the Father God, hoping that they could safely get through this Black Death Season and that plagues and diseases would not befall them.
It was a grand ceremony.
Mr. and Mrs. Gray took Dudian to pray as well. Dudian also saw the place of faith in this world, the Church of Light, for the first time. However, this was just a branch of the Church of Light built in the residential area. A huge sculpture of a four-winged angel was erected in the center of the square, and its two hands seemed to embrace all the believers, exuding kindness and peace.
After the Prayer Day passed, three days later, various academies began their enrollment.
Led by Mr. and Mrs. Gray, Dudian came to the Law Academy which was about ten kilometers away from his home. There were bustling parents accompanying their children waiting here. These parents and children were simply dressed and had clean complexions, which were completely different from those of other ordinary workers who were sallow and emaciated or had rough skin. After all, the tuition fees of the Law Academy were notoriously expensive, and ordinary working-class families without much financial foundation simply couldn't afford them.
"I heard that if you want to enter the Law Academy, you still need to pass an assessment."
"I already knew that. Otherwise, what did you think? Is it the same as the Sewing Academy or the Geology Academy?"
"I don't know what aspects will be assessed here."
Some parents whispered among themselves.
Gray wondered, "Do you still need to be assessed to enter the Law Academy?"
"Of course. It's the same as our Medical Academy," Jula blinked and then looked down at Dudian, saying, "You have to work hard. I remember they will assess some simple things. Our Medical Academy assesses memory. It should be similar here, right?"
Gray suddenly understood and grinned at Dudian, saying, "Then it depends on your own performance. If you don't pass, we'll go and register at the Sewing Academy."
Dudian rolled his eyes in his heart and thought, Just be happy. If it's really an assessment of memory, I can easily defeat the examiners in no time. His IQ was 142. In the old days, this had already reached the passing line for the IQ of a "genius." People with an IQ between 120 and 140 were all considered smart, and most people had an IQ between 90 and 110. As for his amazing sister, her IQ even reached 168. That was truly having a photographic memory. She was admitted to Harvard University at the age of 12.
The reason why he and his sister had such high IQs was entirely due to inheriting the genes of their parents. Both of his parents were scientists who had won international awards. If it hadn't been for the outbreak of the disaster, with the invention of the "freezing chamber," they could have won another international award.
At this moment, the parents in front went in one after another, and soon it was Dudian's turn.
"Parents, please stop here. Children, come over for the assessment," a middle-aged man who looked like an administrative staff member stopped Mr. and Mrs. Gray.
"Dian, come on!" Jula cheered Dudian on, but no matter how Dudian looked at it, he felt that the smile in her eyes was too cheerful.
Entering the spacious room, he saw a middle-aged man and a middle-aged woman, the examiners, sitting inside. They were wearing black robes with intricate patterns embroidered with golden silk, simple yet magnificent. When they saw Dudian, they smiled and said, "Child, come here."
Dudian walked up to them.
"Let me ask you a question. You have a frying pan and can only fry two fish at a time. It takes one minute to fry one side. How many minutes does it take at the fastest to fry three fish?" the middle-aged woman on the left asked with a smile.
"Three minutes," Dudian answered without thinking.
The two examiners were a bit surprised. This question wasn't difficult, but even some smart children needed to think about it for a while before they could answer it. However, Dudian seemed to answer it directly without any consideration, and the answer was correct!
"You've passed, child. You're very smart," the middle-aged man on the right smiled and said, "Take this and go for a physical examination next door. If there's nothing wrong with the physical examination, you can officially come to study at the Law Academy." With that, he handed Dudian a small piece of paper with a few words written on it.
There's still a physical examination? Dudian frowned slightly, nodded, and turned to leave the room.
"It's so difficult!"
"I answered four minutes, and they actually said I was wrong. Isn't it four minutes? If you need to fry both sides, it definitely takes four minutes!"
"This question is just wrongly set. Why fry fish? I don't even like fish. And what does frying fish have to do with the law?"
"That's right. My father is a chef. He can fry three fish in just one minute, but they didn't believe it. Humph!"
As soon as Dudian came out, he heard several children walking out of the adjacent assessment rooms, complaining about the exam questions discontentedly. The corners of his mouth twitched slightly, and he pretended not to hear them. Then he turned back to Mr. and Mrs. Gray who were waiting beside him.
"How was it?" Gray asked with a beaming smile. He had also heard what those children said. Although he didn't know exactly what the exam questions were, he knew it wasn't easy to pass.
Dudian glanced at him indifferently and said, "I passed. Next, I need to go for a physical examination."
Gray's smile froze for a moment, and he felt a bit dejected. But then, thinking that Dudian was smarter than other children, he became elated again.
"The physical examination is to detect the radiation value in your body. Judging from Dian's complexion, the radiation value must not be high, and there should be no problem passing," Jula said with a smile, as if she knew something about it.
Dudian's heart stirred. When the global nuclear bombs exploded, the world was filled with nuclear radiation rays. A large amount of nuclear radiation dust also gathered in the silver-gray clouds in the sky. That's why there was the Disaster Rainy Season, a season with a lot of rain. And rain was extremely dangerous, even deadly, to this world. Being caught in the rain could cause illness at the least and even death at the worst.
However, he had only been out of the freezing chamber and lived here for a few months. The radiation value in his body shouldn't be too high.
Still, he was curious about what these people used to detect the radiation value.
Could it be an instrument? But they hadn't even entered the Steam Age here. How could they possibly know about "electricity"?
At this moment, Jula led him to a room next door labeled "Physical Examination." There was no queue inside. After all, not many people could pass the first assessment. A middle-aged woman was sitting inside. When she saw the small piece of paper in Dudian's hand, she smiled and said, "Come here."
Dudian went forward as told and looked around. He didn't see any instruments, but there was a row of glass tubes that looked like thermometers.
The middle-aged woman took the paper from his hand, took a look at it, and seeing that it was genuine, she picked up a clean glass tube from the nearby collection of glass tubes. The glass tube had fine scales on it. She pointed the sharp end of the tube at Dudian's little hand and said with a smile, "Child, don't be afraid. It won't hurt."
Dudian didn't expect that the thing used to detect the radiation value was such a small glass tube.
With a pop, the sharp end of the glass tube pierced into Dudian's finger. Soon, the bright red blood seeped into the glass tube. Only then did Dudian notice that there was a hair-thin red line in the scale of the glass tube. It rose slightly and stopped at the first grid at the bottom of the scale.
The middle-aged woman took a closer look and, confirming that she wasn't seeing things, looked at Dudian in surprise. Only then did she notice that Dudian's complexion was much fairer than that of other children. Even girls of the same age didn't have such a snow-white complexion as his.
A look of realization flashed in her eyes, and she said to Mr. and Mrs. Gray beside her with emotion, "I've never seen such a low radiation value before. It's incredible. I guess only in the commercial district would there be such a healthy body."
Jula obviously also recognized this radiation meter. She was equally shocked, and then she seemed to understand. She said to her confused husband beside her, "This is a radiation meter, specially used to test the radiation value of the human body. Dian's radiation value... is quite low, even lower than ours. I guess it can be comparable to those noble children."
Gray knew the importance of the radiation value of the human body, but he didn't care much. However, Jula's words "comparable to those noble children" made him a bit happy, and he stroked Dudian's hair affectionately.
Dudian took a look at the small red line on the radiation meter and suddenly felt that the line was twitching slightly. It seemed... to be a living thing!
...
...
On the night of the day when Dudian registered, in a certain castle in the commercial district.
In a luxurious room as if inlaid with diamonds, a shadowy figure quietly appeared in the room. Looking at the majestic figure reading documents at the desk in front, it said respectfully, "My lord, this is the detection situation submitted from the residential area today. There are twenty-seven who passed."