Chapter 144 - Ben the honor student
Soon, the professor announced Ben and Charlotte as the victors of the compet.i.tion. It surprised no one, except a few people who were too smart for their own good, expecting Ben"s team to be disqualified somehow…
Despite the shameless forecasters trying to play chess with G.o.d…Ben won a guaranteed A!
How rare was that? It was difficult to get guaranteed A even as a married man!
…
Other students still mumbled in disbelief, though not daring to be too loud for fear of drawing the ire of the poison dragon…
Sitting in the cla.s.sroom, Charlotte"s little face turned red as everyone gazed at them. She glanced at Ben and couldn"t believe he succeeded. "He did it…just like he said he would…" Her chest and head cloud with mixed thoughts and feelings…
As for Ben? He experienced the pride of a champ. "I"m the boss here now. From this moment forth, I"ll have hot and cold running p*ssy on tap…"
…
Despite the outcome, his victory wasn"t simple. He learned from pick up that the best line wasn"t the most exotic but the most effective. What was most effective? The line that fit each woman best. In the context of the compet.i.tion, that was the segment that best suited the market conditions and countered compet.i.tors.
It was Ben"s realization that pick up concepts mirrored principles in the cla.s.s textbook that allowed him to formulate a winning strategy. That"s how he learned to view the world through the lens of p*ssy…
…
All the other teams selected the segments high in glam and short term gains. In the beginning, this helped them take the lead. Yet later on, due to the high supply of companies and limited growth in their sectors, their profits stagnated. Meanwhile, Ben chose the unpopular corporate niche and monopolized it. It all relied on his munching the box thinking…
…
Professor Tremblay addressed Ben and Charlotte. "Ben, would you please say a few words to the cla.s.s about your winning strategy?"
"Actually Professor, I"ve prepared a PowerPoint..." Nodding to Charlotte, he stood and held up a pen-drive. At the same time, he glanced at Lawrence"s group. "It all started with a pen drive, and it"ll all end with a pen drive. Once again, we"ve come full Squirtle…"
…
Ben was d.a.m.n good at using storytelling techniques…
His declaration caused the other students, including Olivia, to gawk once more. "He knew he would win in advance?"
Ben wasn"t certain he"d win. He only prepared the presentation just in case, but no one would ever know that, so he planned to look as cool as possible…
6th stratagem of web novels: always appear at maximum coolocity even if you know nothing whatsoever.
...
With the professor"s booty"s blessing…he stepped toward the front of the cla.s.s. Plugging in his pen drive into her laptop, he loaded his PowerPoint.
Knowing Ben"s personality, the sitting students winced, antic.i.p.ating brutal put-downs, or even a video of a Taliban beheading someone…
...
When the first slide came up on the projector screen, everyone"s attention was drawn to the most savage part of it…
The terrible and disgusting…Comic Sans font…
…
As for the remainder, it was a breakdown of cla.s.s concepts.
"That"s it?" Many showed expressions of doubt...
Despite their dark thoughts, some of the students who still trusted in the inherent goodness of humanity released sighs of relief, feeling spared from execution…
Watching their reactions, Ben shrugged. "I"m a proper student before anything else. Education comes first..."
Ignoring them, he began his speech. In it, he not only explained his strategy, but ill.u.s.trated his thorough understanding of the textbook and subject matter. His knowledge left everyone convinced, so much so that even the professor"s eyebrows raised at his comprehension.
It wasn"t strange. Ben only missed 3 weeks of school. This past week, using the stat gain multiplier, he was able to make that up with 10 weeks of results. It meant he was now several months ahead of his cla.s.smates. What"s more is the multiplier not only granted an acceleration effect but also increased motivation, allowing Ben to study with full focus, something that normal students couldn"t match.
Depending on who you asked, there was one other debatable point, which was Ben was already smart to begin with...
Of his original stats, knowledge was the highest for a good reason. It wasn"t an accident he got into NYU which was a high ranking university. Although not a top tier Ivy League school, it wasn"t far off, with the difference between him and students who entered those schools existing more in work ethic than book smarts.
Ben was a stay at home otaku. He didn"t partic.i.p.ate in clubs or flatter teachers. As a result, his college application wasn"t gleaming, lacking the necessary extracurriculars to get into the best schools, but his grades were top tier!
Soon, Ben finished the presentation"s first section on theory. He then moved onto the tactical portion, which would ill.u.s.trate the specifics of how his group achieved victory in such a tough field of compet.i.tors.
The students squinted when they observed labels for their nine teams and circular oval-shaped GIFs grouped underneath them…
"Why are cutouts of all our heads on the slide?"
...
Watching the confused faces of the audience, Ben explained what was happening. "This will be an animated re-enactment of the tactics my group used during the game."
Some of the students nodded in understanding. "I see. He"s going to dive into the details, breaking down how he rose past the groups one by one."
Next, something else appeared in the middle of the screen—a white Mickey Mouse hand…
…
They became suspicious again. "What"s the hand for?"
…
Ben put his hands up to calm them down… "Relax. It"s just a prop for making certain gestures for better ill.u.s.tration of tactics…"
Nodding again, their tensions eased.
Ben continued. "As you know my team started dead last in 10th place and climbed our way up the ranks."
"It was impressive…"
"I"d also like more info on how he did that…"
"Not. Bad. At. All."
Ben motioned to the screen. "Let"s start with how we defeated the first group to rise to 9th."
Everyone paid close attention. Despite prior differences, after Ben"s thorough presentation, everyone couldn"t help but recognize him as a top student in this cla.s.s. As a result, they believed they could learn something from him. Everyone stared at the screen, eager to know which advanced marketing tactic he utilized.
*Slap*
…
"What was that?"
*Slap* *Slap* *Slap* *Slap*
"Why"s the hand slapping our faces?!?"
The expressions of everyone in the cla.s.s became hideous!
The Mickey Mouse hand smacked every face of the first team Ben stepped on!
There were even comic book sound bubbles on the screen!
Worried they may not have been clear on the fine details, Ben explained. "As you can see, the major strategy I used to secure victory in this game was an ancient tactic from China…"
Some of the students eased their grimaces. They knew China was famous for ancient war tactics. Perhaps there was more than met the ire to what Ben was trying to teach here.
He elaborated. "I"ll better ill.u.s.trate this maneuver by moving on to the next group. The name of this tactic…is the faceslap!"
*Slap* *Slap* *Slap* *Slap* *Slap*
Nope!
Their faces became even more horrible to look at!
What ancient war tactic! From the beginning of time, this was straight up humiliation!
...
Ben nodded, watching them appreciate his strategic insight. "The dao of faceslapping can"t be put into words, but it can be put into slaps…"
7th!
*Slap*
6th!
*Slap*
5th!
*Slap*
4th!
*Slap*
3rd!
*Slap*
2nd!
*Slap*
At that moment, a proud student from Olivia"s group interrupted Ben to regain some pride. He snorted. "He spent so much time on that?"
Ben stopped the presentation and pointed at him. "Hey! You don"t cut corners on quality, KEVIN!"
…
He then pointed back to the slides. "Now, don"t miss this. It"s your five minutes of fame…"
1st!
*Slap* *Slap* *Slap* *Slap* *Slap*
…
After this deep tissue facial trauma…some of the students wondered, "If he was going to do that, what was the point of the informational lecture in the first part?" Then, they realized it…and their faces turned even paler. "The b.a.s.t.a.r.d was trying to get us to lower our guards! It was a night attack to kill us in our sleep!"
…
The room was dead silent after all having had their faces slapped clean off...
…
No one could say anything…
After all, how could someone speak…without a face?