To be honest, the middle school exercises back then were somewhat more difficult than those that came later, and the difficulty of high school exercises was on a whole new level. As for the advanced mathematics encountered in university, some problems would probably be hard even for professors at the third-rate university where Eric Bennett studied. Now, coming back and gradually mastering the formulas while doing the exercises, Eric Bennett, who was used to the messy routines of marketing and sales work, found elementary mathematics to be crystal clear, his mind sharper than ever before.

The first ten problems took Eric Bennett half an hour to solve. For the next twenty problems, Eric Bennett sped up and only needed another half hour.

For the following twenty problems, Eric Bennett managed to finish in just twenty minutes, building on his previous speed.

This was already an unbelievable pace. For the top students in middle school, maybe they could solve ordinary problems this quickly, but for these carefully compiled internal exercises, reaching such speed was truly astonishing.

For the next fifty problems, Eric Bennett tackled them as quickly as eating corn on the cob, breaking them down and conquering them with full force.

Letting out a breath, he checked reference materials, consolidated his systematic knowledge, and after completely finishing the exercises, it was already one in the morning.

Standing up from his chair, stretching comfortably, Eric Bennett couldn't help but exclaim, "Awesome."

This sense of satisfaction from solving problems was just like the thrill of leveling up after a hard grind slaying monsters in online games after work in 2009, but this feeling was even stronger!

The exercises he had just conquered, covered in his dense answers, basically encompassed all the math knowledge points from three years of middle school. And he had managed to conquer them all in just about three hours, as if, in ""World of Warcraft,"" while all the other homebodies were still stuck at level seventy, he was already wandering around at level eighty with top-tier gear. This was what you called transcendence.

However, this set of exercises didn't guarantee all the answers were correct. Yesterday, Eric Bennett had only photocopied the exercises and forgot to copy the answer key, so the problems he solved now might still contain mistakes. After all, sometimes even when you feel confident, things don't turn out as you wish. The harsh realities Eric Bennett had experienced before his rebirth had made him stop trusting his own feelings.

He had no confidence.

Fortunately, there was still one more day of school tomorrow. He could borrow the answer key then to check his results.

Also, he still needed to borrow similar high-difficulty internal exercises for other subjects to review systematically.

Time was tight now. He could only hope that in the next three days... there would still be enough time.

Chapter 6: The Agreement

At dawn the next day, Eric Bennett woke up from bed. Today was the last day to go to school before middle school graduation, and for the reborn Eric Bennett, it was the most crucial day to see if he could stand out in the upcoming exam-oriented education. He needed to get the remaining "cheat sheets" covering all the middle school knowledge points. If he missed this chance, there would be no way to get them—school would be on break for two days, and then the high school entrance exam would arrive directly. At this point, time had become the most precious asset.

Breakfast was milk and eggs that his mother had gotten up at six thirty to prepare. After washing up, Eric Bennett peeled the egg on the table, dipped the round egg white in vinegar, and ate with great relish.

In fact, Eric Bennett hadn't eaten breakfast in the morning for a long time. The pressure of work, irregular and almost chaotic daily routines, had made his stomach unable to handle breakfast. Eating in the morning often made him uncomfortable for half the day, and he wouldn't digest it well even by noon.

Now, Eric Bennett could fully feel how thin and weak this body was, but it was healthy and full of vitality inside. Thinking back, at sixteen, he was still more than ten centimeters shorter than he was in 2009.

"Mom, do you have twenty yuan? I need it for something today, I have some materials to photocopy..." After finishing the last egg, Eric Bennett gulped down the milk and looked at his mother, who was waiting to clean up after him.

Mrs. Bennett was taken aback. In 1998, twenty yuan was a considerable sum for any student. Each time the school collected material fees, it was about twenty or thirty yuan, which already seemed like a lot. But for Eric Bennett, from elementary to middle school, aside from paying tuition, it was rare to have such a large amount at his disposal. At his age, even his New Year's money was basically confiscated.

Eric Bennett remembered that in elementary school, he started saving his pocket money in the second half of sixth grade, and by graduation, he had saved nineteen yuan and fifty cents.

Things got a little better in middle school, but situations like this were still rare.

After hearing the reason, Mrs. Bennett still said, "Why are you only thinking of photocopying now..." but went into the bedroom, took twenty yuan from her wallet, and handed it to Eric Bennett. For an ordinary working family, this was a day's living expenses at the time.

Holding the money, seeing the look of expectation on his mother's face, Eric Bennett thought not only that he must never let them suffer for his sake again, but also realized the importance of wealth. In those days, everyone lived on thin ice, following the rules, all because their livelihoods depended on a single source of income, which led to narrow values. There weren't the countless new things and diverse lifestyles and innovative job opportunities that would emerge in the twenty-first century.