Finally, he went to Minos. He already knew Minos was much smarter than the other children, so he decided to leave him for last in hopes to end his day in a good mood.
"Alright boy, what letter is this?" Mister Uklend asked.
"That's Xif, it's pronounced Ickf and it's the thirteenth letter." Minos said quickly, not even requiring a second to think.
Such a quick response even caught Mister Ukelnd off guard, and it took him a second to even realize Minos answered.
"Correct!" He said with joy, knowing he hadn't guessed wrong about Minos.
Seeing Minos so clever, he decided to push his limits and see just how much he's learned. With that, he kept questioning Minos, waiting for him to slip up.
But after a minute or so passed with Minos getting every answer correct, Mister Uklend surprise turned into terror.
The children also looked on with wide eyes, having no idea how Minos managed to memorize so much in a single day.
Despite Minos's genius, Mister Uklend didn't give up, feeling like he had been challenged. He swore he wouldn't leave until he caught Minos making a mistake, so he kept questioning.
However one minute turned to two, and two turned to four, and finally after a half hour passed the shock had long since turned into numbness.
Minos had gotten every question correct, causing Mister Uklend to reach up and rub the sweat off his forehead.
Just as he was about to ask another question, he realized there was nothing left to ask. He had already gone through the entire alphabet, and Minos had gotten them all right.
"Uh-hum, w-well, done. Let's call it a day. Everyone can leave, Minos, stay." Mister Uklend said, letting the children release a collective sigh of relief knowing they could finally escape Minos's terror.
"Good luck Minos." Yuluk whispered, as he ran out with the other children.
Soon enough, the room was completely empty, only leaving Minos and Mister Uklend staring back at each other.
"Boy, have you learned the alphabet before?" Mister Uklend couldn't help but ask, breaking the silence.
"No sir." Minos replied succinctly.
Mister Uklend stared at Minos firmly as if trying to scare him into submission, but Minos's lake-like eyes were unmoving, completely unperturbed by his pressure.
Seeing Minos not reacting at all, Mister Uklend gave up. Either Minos really was a genius, or he was just an amazing liar.
In his perspective, it was more likely the first choice, after all, even if Minos did learn this someplace else, the fact that he had mastered it by the time he was five was already enough proof of his genius.
"Minos, you are much smarter than the other children, so it doesn't make much sense to teach you the same way I teach them." Mister Uklend said, causing Minos's eyes to perk up, understanding his implication.
"So will sir teach me privately!?" Minos asked with excitement.
Mister Uklend couldn't help but smile seeing Minos's anticipation, after all it was the first time he'd really seen the boy show much emotion at all.
"I will, but my standards are very harsh, are you capable?" Mister Uklend said sternly.
"Don't worry sir, no matter how harsh your methods are, I'll learn!" Minos said with no fear, causing another smile to form on Mister Uklend's face.
"Good! You've got vigor boy, but I'm already exhausted today. Hmm, how about this, starting tomorrow, I'll spend an extra hour after class teaching you?" Mister Uklend suggested.
"Deal!" Minos said, saying a final goodbye to Mister Uklend before leaving the room with joy.
Seeing Minos run off towards home, the smile on his face slowly dissipated. Life here may be simple, but it was also comfortable.
The real world was a dangerous place, where people would kill their own brothers for a chance at advancement, but this small village seemed to be isolated from all that.
People didn't have much, but they learned to value what they did, they lacked the endless ambition that a lot of the city folk he had met had.
Of course this wasn't to say ambition was a bad thing, but unfortunately it tended to corrupt, even those with the purest hearts weren't immune to it's influence.
A melancholy look appeared on his face as he looked down at his wounded body, a constant reminder of the cruelty of the world, and the fickleness of friendship.
He just hoped that he had managed to escape his pursuers. Those people were incredibly cruel, and he didn't even want to begin to imagine what would happen if they stumbled across this village.
As much as he wanted to leave this place and redirect his enemies somewhere else, he simply didn't have the strength, and despite how solid he looked, his body was actually on the verge of collapsing.
He could only pray to the heavens that his and the villagers' fortune wasn't too bad, but beyond that, he could only wait…
…
Minos quickly arrived back home, the smile on his face still not leaving. Seeing his joyous appearance, Rolin and Trin couldn't help but look at each other for a moment, wondering what got the boy so happy.
"What's got you so excited?" Rolin couldn't help but ask with a smile, after all, this son of his pretty much always had a blank face, so to see a smile was a nice change of pace.
Trin was also smiling wide, happy to see her son so happy. She had always been worried about him considering his cold appearance and personality, afraid that he would never fit in, so seeing him happy filled her heart with joy.
"Mister Uklend is going to give me extra lessons after class." Minos said, the smile still on his face.
"See, I told you our boy was a genius! Even Mister Uklend's willing to teach him extra." Rolin claimed with a loud laugh.
"You don't need to tell me, I always knew our son was special. I'm going to make you your favorite meal as a reward!" Trin said happily.
The family spent the rest of the day chatting, mostly Trin and Rolin asking questions and Minos answering.
Soon enough it was bedtime, and Minos could barely sleep, excited for tomorrow. Fortunately despite his excitement, his body eventually beat him out, and he slowly went into a deep-sleep.
…
Minos woke up bright and early as he usually did. Jumping out of bed, he quickly ate his breakfast and rocketed off towards school before his parents could even say anything.
"Minos wait, you haven't even finished your meal!" Trin couldn't help but shout out.
"Leave him, the boy's finally got something to be excited about, let him have his fun." Rolin said as he slowly sipped his tea.
Minos quickly made his way to the class, entering the empty room. It was still early, and he was the first one here, but he didn't mind.
He just sat at his desk with his fingers crossed, waiting patiently for school to begin, and his wait didn't last long.
Soon Mister Uklend arrived, upon seeing Minos sitting alone in the room, he couldn't help but laugh lightly.
"Good morning sir." Minos said.
"You really didn't have to come so early, after all you've already learned the alphabet, so you'll have to wait until class is over to learn something new." Mister Uklend reminded.
"It's okay, I'll consolidate my knowledge." Minos said, not minding.
Mister Uklend couldn't help but look at Minos strangely, after all not only was the boy a genius, but he also had an incredible thirst for learning, two traits that were destined to make him stand out from his peers.
But it also conflicted with his young age, making it impossible for him to fit in with those his age, which was his disadvantage.
Mister Uklend couldn't help but lightly shake his head. All things came at cost, and people like Minos always tended to be lonely since it was hard for them to find peers they could truly connect with.
Despite that, he didn't say anything. In his opinion, the cost was nothing compared to the benefit, and Minos would be better off this way.
While he was thinking that, the class slowly filled up, and soon all the children arrived. Giving them a few minutes to get comfortable, the second day of learning began.
Like that, the week quickly passed, and as promised, Mister Uklend would spend an hour after each class teaching Minos separately.
Soon enough it became apparent to Mister Uklend that Minos definitely hadn't learnt the alphabet someplace else, after all, no matter what he taught, Minos would learn it just as quickly.
On the first few days, he would teach Minos words, starting from importance, and as per usual, Minos learnt after only being taught once.
With such incredible intelligence, Mister Uklend could teach him hundreds of words a day, and Minos's vocabulary was constantly expanding.
After the fourth day, he realized that he had taught him all the words he knew, and there wasn't much else to say, so he decided to teach Minos about the world around him.
Starting with the village, Mister Uklend began teaching Minos about the continent they lived on, the closest city, and other important wisdom.
He taught him about the city people, about the legendary cultivators that he had only heard about in passing, and even lessons from his own life.