Tony Snow's initial choices were "Advanced Mathematics (Volume 1)" and "Higher Mathematics (Volume 2)"; after all, he had only spent a few days on these two books recently, and continuing with them now was just right.
Stuffing the two books into his backpack, along with some scratch paper, a calculator, and other useful items, Tony quickly left the dormitory again.
The other people in the dormitory, seeing Tony head to the library again, each had their own thoughts.
Alex Green also began searching online for postgraduate entrance examination-related books and started preparing to study.
And Max Carter, who had always only known how to play games, also began searching online for civil service examination-related materials.
As for Ryan Blake, he was with his girlfriend after class and wasn't with the other three in the dormitory at all.
Arriving at the library, as Tony walked toward his usual spot, he happened to pass by where Clara Quinn had been studying yesterday, but that spot was already occupied.
Tony glanced at the person in Clara's spot from yesterday; it was also a girl, but it wasn't Clara.
Seeing that it wasn't her, Tony walked past quickly with his usual expression, soon arriving at his own seat.
Sitting down, he took out Higher Mathematics, scratch paper, and other study materials and began to focus.
Although Tony had the knowledge given by the life simulator, and now possessed the attention and comprehension he lacked as a slacker, finishing ten books was still not an easy task.
Moreover, Tony couldn't spend an entire day on this—he still had classes to attend.
In the two or three hours he had that evening, he finished the remaining part of "Functions and Limits" in the first volume of Higher Mathematics.
He didn't skip a single exercise after each small section, nor any of the comprehensive exercises at the end of each chapter. He even worked through all the examples.
"Just this first volume has seven chapters. At my current pace, it'll take at least several months to complete this task," Tony thought as he left the library.
Now, Tony couldn't change the books he was supposed to read; he had already bound these ten books to the simulator not long ago. There was no going back.
Tony had no classes Friday afternoon, so he spent the entire afternoon and evening at the library. Over the weekend, he worked part-time during the day and studied in the evenings.
Over those three days, he finished the second chapter, "Derivatives and Differentials," and also repaid the money he had borrowed from Max earlier.
Returning to the dorm on Sunday evening, Tony felt that his current part-time job was earning money too slowly. He asked Ryan, "Hey, is that tutoring job in the group reliable?"
"Tutoring job? What tutoring job?" Ryan asked, confused.
"It's that part-time job group you added me to earlier. I saw someone named 'Tutoring Job Contact Me,' and I was wondering if I could get some work," Tony explained.
He'd noticed the name when he joined the group, but back then, he hadn't needed money badly enough to follow up.
"Oh, that guy. I added him once. He'll put you in another group where people post tutoring jobs, but you've gotta pay to join. That's why I didn't bother. Seemed sketchy," Ryan said.
Tony thought about it. If the guy was a scammer, someone would've called him out in the group by now.
"Anyone ever say they were scammed by him?" Tony asked.
"Not that I can remember. Maybe not," Ryan replied after a pause.
That was enough for Tony to try his luck. It was late now, though, so he decided to message the contact tomorrow.
The next morning, before class, Tony added the guy's contact and joined the tutoring agency group.
It turned out the group was more organized than expected. Admins shared tutoring requests, and if you wanted to accept one, you had to pay a small fee to get the client's contact info. If the job fell through, the fee was refunded.
The fee varied based on the pay of the assignment.
Upon joining, Tony was greeted with typical group chatter:
"Welcome new member, reveal your photo!"
"Newbie, send a red packet!"
Tony ignored it all. There were no active jobs, so he left the group chat and returned to his messages.
He had a full day of classes. It wasn't until after dinner that he went to the library.
"You came early today. Why didn't I see you the past few days?" Clara Quinn greeted him.
She had her hair in a bun today, wearing a blue sweater and white wide-leg jeans.
Tony had seen her a few times in class, but they hadn't interacted much before.
"I usually sit wherever there's space. These spots were all taken the last few days," he replied.
Clara gave a soft smile. "Have you been coming to the library every day recently?"
"No wonder I confessed to her in the last simulation," Tony thought, seeing her kind smile.
The simulator never gave him full context, but he could infer how he might've developed feelings for her.
In the simulation, he had no cheat codes. Just his past life experience. He'd probably leaned on Clara for academic help—and slowly, admiration turned to affection.
She was smart, beautiful, gentle. It wasn't hard to imagine.
"Yeah, I come every day," Tony replied smoothly and sat down beside her.
After settling in, he pulled out "Advanced Mathematics (Volume 1)" and opened to Chapter 3—"Mean Value Theorems of Differential Calculus and Applications of Derivatives."