The quietest person in the room was, by far, Jude.
When he first heard that Noreen had also scored 255, his immediate reaction was disbelief. He assumed she had used some underhanded means to get that score.
After all, she had a history of coming in last.
Stories of underdogs making triumphant comebacks only happened in novels.
The chances of it happening in real life were minuscule.
But Professor Selwyn's explanation made him realize the whole 'last place' story was just a misunderstanding.
Noreen had always been exceptional.
And her real score was 260, five points higher than the score Bianca had first seen.
Just a moment ago, he had secretly messaged his friend who was a TA and asked him what a score of 260 signified.
His friend's reply was unequivocal: "A genius."
"No, wait! A genius among geniuses!"
"Academician Joyner's exam is hellishly difficult. Even if I took it, I'd probably only get around 180 or 190. 260 is absolutely god-tier!"
"And at this level, every single point is a huge leap that's incredibly hard to cross!"
After reading the messages, Jude fell even more silent.
To top it off, Professor Selwyn, after reading Noreen's paper, kept insisting that Academician Joyner had scored her too low.
That meant Noreen was capable of scoring even higher!
After a long silence, Jude turned to Seth, who was sitting beside him.
"Is Noreen really that brilliant?"
Seth didn't look at him. His gaze was fixed on Noreen, his eyes deep but his expression calm.
"You're only just realizing that now?" he replied lightly.
Jude was taken aback. "You knew all along?"

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