Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 166

Chapter 164

“What’s the meaning of this…?”

Rete looked at Simon’s divinity in disbelief, then stuttered,

“Y-Yeah! You finally believed in the great Goddess, did you? It was worth reading the scriptures after all!”

“I don’t think so.”

“Then, what’s that thing burning in your left hand? It’s proof that you’re filled with belief!”

Simon said with a sour look,

“The Goddess is a lie.”

“Wh-What? Hey, you bastard! What did you just—?!”

Woooooooosh!

The divinity in Simon’s left hand grew bigger and brighter. Seeing this, Rete went silent.

“This is my proof.”

Simon had a radiant look.

“At least for me, divinity doesn’t come from belief in the Goddess.”

“No way!”

She pulled at her hair. Divinity was the power of the Goddess. No exceptions. Rete felt her entire tower of belief being shaken.

Then Simon smiled in embarrassment and asked,

“By the way, how do you turn this thing off?”

“…”

After burying her head in her lap in agony, she slowly sat back up.

“You just have to get permission from the Goddess… Like saying, ‘Thank you for lending me your great power today. I’ll go back to being a normal human being.’ ”

“Is that so?”

Simon first tried to do as Rete said.

‘There’s no way this could work.’

Next, he changed parts based on the trick he had used before. He asked himself permission to give up the power, not the Goddess. But that also failed.

‘Is this not it? It feels a little different, though…’

After a few moments of pondering, Simon decided to change tracks.

‘It’s normal for me not to be able to use divinity.’

Zwip!

As soon as he thought so, the divinity on his palm vanished like it was never there.

“Oh.”

Rete’s eyes lit up.

“Did the Goddess hear your prayer?”

“No, it turned off because I thought I couldn’t use divinity. Like self-hypnosis.”

Tremble.

She shook like an aspen leaf. Feeling a slight sense of danger, Simon tried to step back, but she was one step faster.

With a reddened face, she tackled Simon on the grass while shouting and climbed on top of him.

“You bastard! You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

Whish!

A pure-white spear of divinity formed in her hands and she held it above her head.

“You think I don’t know your intentions? You’re trying to topple the beliefs of me, the best of Efnel! Not a chance! Who ordered you to do this?”

“…What are you talking about? Everything I said was true.”

Said Simon in a steady voice.

“Why would I lie when my mother’s life is at stake? I’m more serious than anyone right now. If I had to be wary of you, it would be after I got the ingredients from the Tree of Life. What benefit would I get from toppling you right here, right now?”

“…”

She bit her lip and trembled. Eventually, she got off Simon and sat down on the grass.

“Haaaah.”

It was a sigh filled with a deep aching.

“Rete, I—”

“Wait.”

She said, signaling for him to stop.

“Give me a moment to think.”

“…Huh? Sure.”

20 minutes passed with her deep in thought.

Simon got worried and asked,

“If it’s tough for you, shall we wrap up for today?”

“No.”

She raised her head.

“…I was stupid.”

“Hm?”

“I just haven’t yet figured out the great will of the Goddess. Even the most obvious cause and effect, in the eyes of the Goddess, would look like coincidence in my narrow vision. I’m just lacking in training to have my belief shaken by such a trivial matter. Perhaps I was missing something fundamental due to my arrogance from being the best of Efnel.”

Simon laughed inwardly.

It seemed like she was just rationalizing, but he decided to not mention it.

“Okay, let’s move on.”

* * *

* * *

Rete then taught Simon to turn divinity on and off at will. She explained the specific principles of the creation of divinity and made Simon feel the flow.

“Everything starts with feeling the mana.”

Whether it was divinity or jet-black, the base was still mana.

Necromancers used an organ called a ‘core’ inside their body to process mana into the power called jet-black.

But for priests, their whole body was the core. The moment their mana was released, it changed color and turned to divinity.

“Feel every thought in your head, and direct them all.”

Of course, it was beyond simply releasing mana. To turn mana to divinity, it was necessary to have a very strong mental awareness. So strong it was similar to brainwashing.

The ‘belief’ that Rete continued to emphasize was, for Simon, being clearly aware that he could use divinity.

‘…I think I now get why there are so many fanatics in Efnel.’

In a way, divinity was the realm of madness. You had to realize you had a power you didn’t have yet. Even if it didn’t exist, it existed once you were aware it existed, but it ceased to exist if you doubted its existence.

A maniacal belief that bordered on brainwashing indeed. Simon figured that the system adopted by divinity users to create that belief was religion.

Omitting all complex thoughts, the ‘supreme being’ was omniscient, omnipotent, and omnibenevolent.

Using that as the basis, the user could generate divinity at will.

But of course, if their belief was shaken, they could fall to nothingness. Like Flema.

“Rete?”

Asked Simon during a break. Rete, who was reading the scriptures to reflect on her belief, answered with her characteristic cynical voice,

“What is it?”

“How does the normal priest of the Holy Federation discover their divinity?”

She raised her head.

“It is the power bestowed by the Goddess, so they must first train their belief.”

According to Rete, every village in the Holy Federation had an abbey. When a child turned 7, they had to go to their abbey and undergo a ‘divinity compatibility’ test.

Children with above-average divinity compatibility bore the duty to become devouts. They received theological education at the abbey for a set time every day to develop their belief in the Goddess.

“However, only a few people managed the process to become a priest from being a layperson. One must pass through the 19 penances.”

“What are those?”

When Simon heard Rete’s elaboration, they were indeed ‘penances’.

Carrying a heavy cross on a pilgrimage, fasting for three months, traversing a forest of thorns while naked, dousing yourself in fire, and so on. Simon felt sick just hearing it.

“And you did all of that, too?”

“Of course.”

She answered in a proud voice as she crossed her arms before continuing,

“Only after you finish those 18 trials are you qualified to enter the Coffin of Divinity.”

The Coffin of Divinity was the last 19th penance. You had to endure it for a week, encased in a coffin that flowed endlessly with divinity.

“…Why are you guys so inhuman and cruel?”

She scoffed at Simon’s words as she shook her head.

“This is belief. This is what faith is. We’re on a different level than you necromancers who mutilate your bodies with a ‘core’.”

“Yeah, yeah. But what would happen to an ordinary person exposed to such a large amount of divinity?”

“A small dose of divinity could heal wounds, but a full week of getting bathed in divinity is a different story. Divinity is a ‘foreign substance’ for the body of an ordinary person. If one can’t hold it, well, they’ll die.”

“…That’s insanity.”

Through this ignorant ceremony, a kind of ‘mutation’ would occur in the human body, and humans with extremely high divinity-compatibility were born. They are the ones who are baptized and become priests.

Those who give up in the middle say they still lack faith and must return to being a layperson, starting again from the first penance. Any whom the mutation didn’t form for even after enduring for a week and who therefore lacked the necessary compatibility became ‘clerics’.

“I’ve never heard of a cleric before.”

“They’re just underl— Ehem. They’re the ones in charge of the churches and abbeys. They can use divinity, but not as much as we, the priests, can.”

The Holy Federation was a strictly hierarchical society.

Commoner, layperson, cleric, priest.

The lower caste must absolutely obey the upper caste.

Of course, the Dark Territory was also divided into commoners and nobles, but the difference in rank was more flexible.

Among the commoners, there were soldiers, merchants, and necromancers who all had greater social authority than a standard noble. And in Kizen, skill and year level was more important than social status.

However, the difference was that status in the Dark Territory was hereditary. In the Holy Federation, everyone started as a commoner, and their status changed according to their position.

“Certainly, in order to properly pretend to be an apprentice priest, I should also study the culture of the Holy Federation.”

Rete nodded at Simon’s words.

“That’s right. If you know how to use divinity but don’t know what a cleric is, you’ll be doubted by the inquisitors.”

“I had a question while listening to your story.”

“What is it?”

“You said that divinity comes from belief in the Goddess. But isn’t it dependent on the ‘divinity compatibility’ you have from birth, not belief?”

Rete growled immediately.

“Ugh, you’re infuriating! Even among priests of Efnel with similar levels of divinity compatibility, some rise to the rank of bishop while others remain priests for the rest of their lives! How would you explain this?”

“Differences in their efforts and ability to manipulate divinity?”

“It’s a difference of belief!”

She shouted.

“The stronger your belief and faith in the Goddess, the more divinity you can handle and the better you can control it! This isn’t going to be shaken by your refutations. It’s a fact proven by a long history, you bastard!”

‘If that was the case, shouldn’t high-ranking people in the Holy Federation not prioritize personal gain or accept bribes? I don’t think everyone there is incorruptible.’

However, Simon decided to swallow those words, not wanting the situation to devolve into a fight.

‘…Yeah, Rete must have her own set of values.’

She must have seen and learned things in her life. It was only natural that Simon denying or cutting down her values just because they were different would cause her to lash out at him.

“I believe that’s enough for our break.”

Rete returned again with a serious face, hands on her knees.

“I hate to admit it, but if you have that much divinity, you’re not falling behind priests who have passed the Coffin of Divinity. So, let’s move on straight to the basic training course. This is the level of an apprentice priest. The level that you will have to learn.”

“I was waiting for this.”

Simon’s eyes lit up. Rete rummaged through her backpack and laid out the textbooks she had been using herself from Efnel.

“A total of 9 subjects are taught in all divine schools, including Efnel.”

She picked up a nearby twig and scribbled these names on the ground. Seeing them, Simon’s eyes shook.

Blessings

Mechanics of Divinity

Healing

Study of Holy Spirit

Guarding

Study of Divine Beasts

Combat Light Magic

Defense Against the Dark Arts

Mass lectures.

This was obviously the first time he had heard of them, so why did they sound so familiar?

“The first three are Efnel’s core subjects. Students call them B.M.H. for short. Below that are the four major supplementary subjects known as S.G.S.C..”

“What are you giggling for? It’s creeping me out.”

“I was just thinking about how things are the same no matter where you are.”

“What things?”

“Don’t worry about it.”

The stories from before about penance and the Coffin of Divinity gave Simon a huge culture shock, but seeing this felt incredibly familiar.

There were many similarities, such as Curses and Blessings, Mechanics of Jet-Black and Mechanics of Divinity, Combat Dark Magic and Combat Light Magic, and more.

“Ah, why do you keep smiling?!!”

Simon grinned at Rete, sending her flying into a rage.

“Well, I mean, I’m thinking about what it would’ve been like going to Efnel instead of Kizen.”

“…You’re a nutcase.”

Rete pouted, but Simon didn’t care.

His heart was pounding.

Since he was about to learn divinity from Efnel’s No.1, shouldn’t he do it properly?

“Then what subject will you teach me first?”

Simon’s itch to do something was growing unbearable.

‘Hurry and give me something to learn!’

——