“I don’t know what hospital they went to, ask someone named Iain,” Nathan answered.
Warlock dialed a number soon afterwards, instructing his men to find Iain.
“It’s not good soiling our mood before eating, Let’s go,” Warlock dropped the matter, Nathan following him.
The lunch was brief, but at least it was able to take Nathan’s mind off his problems. He planned to take action after the mock test of Professor Damian.
An hour has passed, Warlock thought that besides the matter with Maddox, Nathan would surely ask him for help in studying for the test of the professor. Warlock didn’t think that his offer would be disregarded, it would appear that Nathan never had any intention to study during this break. He couldn’t formulate any idea why Nathan would enter the room later with no preparation, the only thing he would be able to do is pray that Nathan won’t embarrass himself.
Nathan on the other hand knew that his knowledge was on par or slightly worse than Selene if basing on the latter’s academic excellence, adding to the fact his newfound knowledge in Mathematics, he’s confident that he’s able to beat all college-level mathematicians and even some new professor-level mathematicians.
They went to the next class, the pressure was on as the class after this one would be Professor Damian, the excitement was killing the students. Though the majority was confident that Selene would win, there were still people rooting for the underdog to win.
The professor entered and sighed; he knew that the attention of the student wouldn’t be fully his. Even though he knew of the mock battle between Selene and Nathan, as a professor he was embarrassed that he also is looking forward to the bout, it was not an everyday thing that the worst student would be paired up with the best. After a minute he calmed down and instructed everyone to sit down.
He continued his discussion despite the eyes of his students wandering away, how could he dare not teach, they were still students and it was his job to make them listen. He just toughens up and louds his voice for his students to notice him more. He sighed inwardly and thought that being a professor is hard.
An hour passed and the thing that everybody was looking forward to will now start. After the professor dismissed them, the students hurriedly went towards the classroom of Professor Damian.
University students acting like that, the previous professor couldn’t help but chuckle.
“I suppose I should follow them; I have an hour of free time; I should use it in a good way.” The professor said as he followed behind the students.
“Hey, Nathan. They already left, how come they left the star of the show, even the professor forgot about you.” Warlock said as Nathan fixes up his things.
“What’s the point in hurrying up? There's still 5 minutes before the class starts, besides the mock test will not start without me so there’s no use in worrying,” Nathan answered.
Warlock gave up in persuading Nathan, he knew he wouldn’t be able to.
A few minutes passed and the two arrived in the room, the rest eyeing them.
The chairs have been arranged in front, while the rest and Professor Damian was at the back. The professor instructed Selene and Nathan to sit at the front with their papers and pen in their hand.
There was still no question in the paper, it was the professor himself that will dictate the questions as they start. This intrigued the students, they thought that in this manner, the thoughts of Nathan to cheat would be extinguished.
Not that Nathan had any plans to cheat, though disregarding the existence of his system.
Seeing that the two in front were ready, Professor Damian spoke.
“Your course now is Biology, a far cry from the competition for Mathematics, so even if you don’t get your expected results, it’s okay.” The words of Professor Damian seem to be hinting at Nathan. The latter didn’t mind since it was for his interest the professor said his words. The other students however seemed to have misunderstood the professor and thought he would be biased to Selene, which majority of the students in their heart agreed.
“Let’s start. I’ll begin it with an easy question first.”
The professor dictated his problem:
With the equations 2x + 3y = 11 and x – y = 4, find the values of x and y that satisfy both equations.
The students were shocked at the first question, it was easy, even they thought that Nathan would have no problem answering such an equation.
After hearing the problem, both Selene and Nathan did their work. After a minute or two they both raised their arms at the exact same time.
Professor Damian went towards them to check if their answer was correct. “Both are correct, now let’s make the question up a notch,” Damian said with a smile.
With a function of f(x) = x3 -4x2 + 3x + 2, find the critical points and classify them as local maxima, local minima or inflection points.
The professor really went up a notch, he had the rest of the students scratching their back and cursing the problem, they hadn’t faced such questions yet. They dealt with simple derivation of functions that aren't familiar with their respective graphs and finding critical points.
The professor acknowledged that even though he forgot how to do derivatives, he admitted that deriving function is not something he is good at.
Professor Damian was amused as Nathan was still calmly busy with his solving while it was evident on Selene’s face that he was having trouble with it. In the Professor’s defense, the topic is relatively straightforward, it comes down to how efficiently the students absorb the topic. Well to be fair, he didn’t say the topic he would be asking, different from the competition where there would be a range where the students should study.
Nathan finished in record time but decided to wait for Selene, she gave him a chance with the mock battle so it would be appropriate for Nathan to wait.
