Roswaal tells the student he plans to put the group through a test. Ainz asks if it is possible to fail the test, and the Floor Guardians state that they will not fail - but Ainz was asking for his own sake, since he was a middle-school dropout in his previous life. Ainz hides this, though, and states he just wanted to know what would happen if someone failed. Aqua thinks this comment is being fired at her, and challenges Ainz to see who gets the best marks.
After class, Tanya and Kazuma call Aqua out for her foolhardy challenge, given that she barely pays attention in class as is. Tanya offers to put Aqua through a quick cramming season, but she politely rejects the offer. Meanwhile, Emilia, Puck, Ram and Subaru are at the school library, reviewing for the exam. When Subaru comments about them studying together previously, he realizes he doesn't know when he has studied with the girls - but Beatrice seems to know more about it than she can tell him. Kazuma decides to approach Chris for Aqua's sake to ask the thief (who is tutoring fellow thief Felt) to tutor Aqua.
The next day, the students get ready for the exam. Grantz warns Kazuma not to steal someone's answers, but Megumin jumps to his defense, and Tanya apologizes for underestimating Kazuma - not knowing that Kazuma was planning to steal her answers. Roswaal mentions that the exam was written by Pandora's Actor before giving it to each of them. Ainz struggles to answer the questions, and decides to cast a Level 10 spell, Time Stop, to allow himself enough time to copy someone else's answers. However, when he realizes that Aqua has not been affected by the spell, he stays on his seat to avoid attracting her attention.
Not knowing what is going on, Aqua nonetheless takes advantage of the situation and starts to copy Kazuma's answers (after sticking two pencils into his nose), only for Tanya and Subaru to interrupt her. Seeing that he won't be able to carry out his objective, Ainz cancels the spell, leaving Aqua in a compromising position and causing Roswaal to punish her, while Ainz mentally apologizes. As he starts answering the best he can, he notices a pattern and completes it - giving him full marks, because the answer bubbles are forming a face resembling Pandora's Actor. Demiurge and Visha express their amazement at Ainz.
Tropes
- Achievements in Ignorance: After Ainz's attempts to cheat with Time Stop fail, he just bubbles in a few answers hoping for a good score. He realizes that the answers he fills in form a picture that resemble Pandora's Actor, resulting in him getting a perfect score. This of course earns him more praise from Demiurge and Visha for his "genius".
- Didn't Think This Through: Tanya and Kazuma call out Aqua on her foolhardy challenge towards Ainz, pointing out how she barely pays attention in class unlike him, and seeing it as impossible for her to score better than him.
- Dramatic Irony: The Floor Guardians, Tanya, and Kazuma all speak highly of Ainz and his intelligence, believing he will have no problem passing the test. Meanwhile, the viewer knows from hearing Ainz's own thoughts that he is in reality a middle-school dropout.
- The Fool: Par for the course for Ainz. By dumb luck, he gets a perfect score on a test he did not know a single answer to.
- Hypocritical Humor: Ainz considers it unfair that the test is too hard for him to pass. He admits he wouldn't have made it easy if he designed it, but he doesn't like it because he has to take it.
- It's All About Me: Ainz dislikes that the test is too hard for him simply because he has to take it. He wouldn't have gone easy on anyone if he designed it.
- No-Sell: Aqua, Tanya, and Subaru are all immune to Ainz's Time Stop spell.
- Threat Backfire: When Aqua challenges Ainz, he initially tries to scare her off with a Death Glare and an implied threat, asking if she really wants to go down this route, which only makes her more determined.
- Throwing Down the Gauntlet: Aqua challenges Ainz to see who can get the better test score when she believes he is is questioning her intelligence.
