Happy Evil Heartbreaker [Modern LitRPG]

Compared to Xanthia, who was effortlessly handling the monthly exams, the rest of Class 3 in their freshman year seemed overwhelmed. Especially those who had enjoyed their vacation and returned to school without focusing, they were clearly sweating over the higher difficulty of this month's science exams.

A typical example was Xanthia's deskmate, Dematero, who seemed burdened by layers of debuffs.

Firstly, due to his unrequited crush, he never paid attention in class, often lost in thought with a mysterious smile on his face. He spent a lot of his free time writing essays and poetry.

Secondly, he hadn't reviewed at all during the holidays due to severe procrastination. Even his homework was completed only after returning to school.

Fortunately, the school provided a whole day for revision, otherwise Dematero would have been even more miserable. He had perfected the art of last-minute cramming...

Since exams were spread out over several days, there were still gaps in between. Dematero seized every second to study, temporarily overcoming his tendency to be talkative.

Dematero was thankful that his deskmate was Xanthia, a kind girl who never disturbed others, immersed in her own peaceful world. Having such a deskmate ensured a conducive studying environment for him.

While cramming, Dematero felt somewhat smug. He believed his behavior was cool, having outdone even those diligent students who studied to death. As long as his grades remained higher than theirs, he felt superior.

He had relied on such "cleverness" throughout middle school, maintaining decent grades and confident in his "potential," believing that if he devoted himself fully to studying, no one could compete with him.

But now he was only in the first semester of high school. Why rush to exhaust his "potential" now? At least wait until the second semester of freshman year to get serious. Of course, when that time came, he might think, "No rush, I'll wait until sophomore year..."

This "tomorrow and tomorrow" attitude led him to live each day carelessly, with only a fraction of his energy devoted to studying.

After finishing the Foreign Languages And Linguistics exam, Dematero's spirits were high. He immediately found his friend Glen to compare answers to the earlier multiple-choice questions. They were in agreement, which delighted him.

Glen, who loved philosophy and was always clear-headed, ranked fifth in the last mock exam and was clearly a contender for the top spot in the class this time.

Excitedly, Dematero told Glen, "Hey, looks like I nailed the Foreign Languages And Linguistics exam this time. If I got all those uncertain multiple-choice questions right, my advantage in the essay section will be huge... I'm so strong, I barely studied at all, haha!"

"Ah Dematero my boy, don't celebrate too early. Foreign Languages And Linguistics isn't a subject where you can open up a huge lead. Rankings depend on total scores in the end. Take it easy," Glen cautioned.

Despite his good grades and intense pressure in a meritocratic environment, Glen was laid-back about them.

Under Glen's advice, Dematero restrained himself. However, when it came to the subsequent science exams, sitting in the exam room, he felt extremely tense and sweaty!

The intensity of the science exams hit hard, especially for students like him who casually understood topics and did homework by copying others' approaches whenever necessary.

After finishing the science exams, Dematero didn't even feel like checking his answers. Math and physics were the subjects where he felt most vulnerable.

Among the top students who were eager to check answers, the class monitor, Henry, approached Ryan, who was last time's second place, to compare answers.

Ryan politely declined: "Let's not check answers. It won't change anything if we're wrong, and it'll only affect our mindset."

Ryan, the quiet and responsible class monitor of Class 3, was tall and gave a reliable impression despite overshadowing Henry.

Left with no choice, Henry turned to Lilim, the vice monitor and disciplinary committee member ranked fourth in the class.

Lilim, a plain-looking, petite girl with mediocre popularity due to her overzealous nature and tendency to report to the teacher secretly, was often heard saying, "I'll tell the teacher."

Despite being the teacher's favorite and excelling academically, Lilim wasn't the most liked, but no one dared to bully her.

Although class monitor Ryan wasn't as prominent as Lilim, he was still the deputy head of the class, yet he didn't care about such things and remained upright.

Lilim was willing to check answers with Henry, but they often disagreed, affecting their mindsets.

As for why Henry didn't ask Elena, ranked third in the class, it was because Elena was discussing questions with Glen in the back seat. He knew Glen and Dematero were close, and he didn't want to join them and spoil his mood.

Dematero also noticed Elena discussing with Glen. In the past, he would have seized the opportunity to join them and chat with Elena.

But now, he felt bitterly lonely—this liveliness belonged to them, and he only found it noisy.

After finishing all the exams, Dematero, feeling down, glanced at his deskmate Xanthia on his right. She was still leisurely reading manga as if nothing had happened. He couldn't help but feel that Xanthia was in a world of her own or maybe a reincarnated Japanese person, at least they shared the same exam woes.

"Xanthia, how do you feel about the exams this time? Did you find the science subjects particularly difficult?" Dematero struck up a conversation.

"I think it went alright. I managed everything smoothly. If I'm lucky, I might even get first place in the whole class," Xanthia replied honestly.

Dematero paused, then chuckled, "I didn't expect you to have a sense of humor. But thanks for deliberately saying these things to cheer me up. Whether the questions were difficult or not doesn't really matter to you."

Xanthia turned her head slightly and said seriously, "I wasn't joking with you... Anyway, the results will be out in a few days. Let's see what the facts say."

Seeing Xanthia's earnestness, Dematero felt unsure for a moment.

Meanwhile, Jimmy in the back seat overheard their conversation. Instead of mocking, he thought Dematero was too gullible. Could Xanthia, a student who was barely in the top ten of the class, really dream of ranking first?

As the scores for each subject came out one by one and the test papers were returned, Class 3 of the freshman year erupted like a stone causing thousand waves due to an extreme dark horse.

Dematero remained stable when the Foreign Languages And Linguistics scores were released, as he had performed exceptionally well and secured first place in the class. Xanthia, on the other hand, ranked in the upper middle of the class in Foreign Languages And Linguistics.

At that moment, Dematero couldn't help but inwardly smirk. So much for those "facts."

Although her scores had improved significantly compared to the last mock exam, what entitled her to aim for the top spot in the class?

However, as the scores for math, physics, and chemistry were released, Xanthia didn't score perfect in any of them, but she didn't lose more than ten points across all three subjects. Her strong performance in the sciences compensated for her "lagging behind" in Foreign Languages And Linguistics.

In addition, she made a direct comeback in English, surpassing Elena, the class representative for English, and securing first place in that subject. With these major subjects combined, she smoothly ascended to the top!

In terms of total scores, though, she was still somewhat at risk, being only seven points ahead of the student in second place.

By the way, the student in second place was Luciel, who also made a remarkable comeback. Her scores were evenly distributed across all subjects, placing second in Foreign Languages And Linguistics after Dematero and tied second in English with Elena, just behind Xanthia.

As for Ryan, the class monitor in third place, he excelled in science and was a powerhouse in the competition class. His total score in the sciences was almost on par with Xanthia, but his performance in English held him back, and his score in Foreign Languages And Linguistics was average, causing a slight gap in his total score.

Glen, in fourth place, was laid-back and indifferent to his grades, yet he consistently improved each time.

Elena, in fifth place, struggled with the difficulty of the sciences, but her strong performance in Foreign Languages And Linguistics and English, despite seeming to drop two places in the class, might actually improve her ranking in the grade level. The true results would be revealed when the school-wide rankings were published.

Lilim, the disciplinary committee member in sixth place, also showed remarkable stability. It seemed that female students with good grades tended to be like this—once their grades stabilized, their fluctuations were minimal.

Former "top student of the class," Henry, clearly underperformed this time, landing in ninth place in the class, with two students ahead of him.

The seventh place belonged to Xenia La Sagrada, Xanthia's former deskmate. Now sitting next to Glen and diagonally in front of Elena, she seemed to have been influenced by them and had also improved significantly. Of course, her original grades were already quite good, ranking around the top ten in the class in the last mock exam.

As for Dematero, his grades looked dismal. From once being seventh in the class, he suddenly dropped to thirty-fifth place!

Considering there were only 56 students in the class, and Xanthia was around forty-third in the last mock exam, one could argue that Dematero didn't actually lose.