Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 95

Chapter 94

All of the first-years had returned to Kizen.

Everyone thought the event would still affect them for a while, but when classes started back up, they found that they could return to their daily lives so quickly that the fierce days on Kera Island felt like a dream.

Starting from the Cyclops Performance Assessment, to the Duel Evaluation, and then the Island Survival Assessment, Kizen’s assessments all had one thing in common.

They all stimulated students’ desire for growth and created motivation.

Students would experience a variety of emotions as they went through trials.

Emotions such as envy and jealousy toward students who were better than themselves.

This led to rivalry, aided by the rapid growth of the poor students considered inferior. Due to this, the class atmosphere was always good after a performance assessment.

Of course, Simon was also stimulated.

“Get ready.”

One evening, just as the sun was about to set, Summoning professor Aaron was watching over Simon’s restoration skills.

This happened on days when they had a class related to ‘restoration’ in Summoning. Simon had already mastered the restoration techniques of the original course, so he had nothing more to learn in the regular class.

On those occasions, Aaron took time to offer special tutoring tailored to Simon’s level.

“I’m ready, Professor!”

“Begin.”

With Aaron’s signal, Simon focussed his eyes. The skeleton standing to him had its bones ripped out as they started flying toward Simon’s arm.

Tatatatatap!

Simon’s right arm started getting covered with bones. The long humerus and femur became the center, like a pillar, and small bones were densely packed between them. Then, jet-black flowed between the bones, connecting them to form a joint.

This was…

‘Bone Armor that covers only an arm!’

Bone Armor was a defensive restoration technique that protected the body by making armor from a skeleton’s bones. Simon simply named this type of wrapping of his arms; ‘Gauntlet Mode’.

He managed to succeed at it three times in a row. Now it was quite speedy. And stable, too.

Excited, Simon clenched and unclenched his fist and moved his arms up and down as if lifting a dumbbell. It felt more close-packed than bare hands, but he could certainly feel the strength.

‘A genius is a genius after all.’

Aaron, arms crossed as he watched Simon, wore a calm expression on his face, but the back of his neck was drenched in sweat.

Restoration was a regular skill that could only be learned in the second year. However, Simon already created his own skill called ‘Bone Nail’ based on Bone Spear and raised his proficiency enough to use it in actual battle.

In the end, he even completed the application skill of Bone Armor, a skill which was particularly difficult among the restoration skills.

His learning speed was worth the word genius.

“Professor!”

Simon turned to Aaron and shouted,

“Can I also try hitting with this?”

“……Of course.”

Simon stood in front of a nearby tree, heart pounding.

He stood with his legs shoulder-width apart before pulling back his arm wearing the gauntlet and slammed the tree as he gave a powerful shout.

Poow!

Leaves fell as the sound of the impact rang out.

‘Woah! This is the power of it without infusing jet-black, right?’

Aaron began to explain as Simon looked at his right arm in astonishment,

“As you just felt, Bone Armor holds more meaning than just defense. You can convert the skeleton’s natural strength and jet-black into physical strength. Think of it as some sort of reinforced exoskeleton suit.”

Simon nodded, eyes shining.

“Bone Armor has different effects depending on the assembly type and the skeleton used. The necromancers in Kizen also have different ways of using this armor. Of course, this can’t be taught. You have to research what Bone Armor is right for you.”

“Yes! I understand!”

Aaron folded his arms.

“Then, lastly, prepare Full-Body Bone Armor.”

“Yes sir!”

Of course, Aaron knew it. That it was crazy to have a first-year practice this right now.

But still, Simon tried.

Full-Body Bone Armor consumed at least two skeletons. The two being used here were broken down into their individual bones, which then clattered to the ground. The bones then flew up and clanged onto Simon’s body. They were fitted appropriately across the chest, the arms, and the legs.

However…

Crumble!

While Simon was paying attention to his arm for a moment, the armor on the chest fell off.

It was just a single moment where the balance between the parts broke, but it was hopeless. The entire joint ended up collapsing.

Simon let out a sigh of disappointment.

“Well done.”

The result was a failure, but Aaron still gave one of his rare praises to Simon.

“Wearing Bone Armor on only one arm and wearing Bone Armor on the entire body is a whole different level of difficulty. There’s no need to be impatient.”

“Yes. Thank you, professor!”

And just like that, the private tutoring for the day was over.

‘Ohh, that feels great.’

Simon was extremely satisfied. While packing up his skeletons, he was wishing for more days where they learned restoration in Summoning.

Aaron sat down on a nearby bench and bit a cigar before lighting it.

Phew.

He puffed out a cloud of smoke and opened his mouth.

“It’s going to be another mission period next week.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Simon was eagerly awaiting the mission this time.

The biggest reason for that was financial. After purchasing the golem, his wallet had become very light, and borrowing a coin or two from Rick was reaching the limit.

A mission was like rain in a drought for Simon, as he could formally earn money through school.

Above all, it was a stage where he could use the Legion at will without having to check on Kizen, and if he was lucky…

He could find a new ancient undead.

Aaran asked,

“Do you have any missions in mind?”

“No. I’ll see and decide when the list comes out.”

Letting out a long puff of cigar smoke, Aaran said,

“Let me give you a tip. If you don’t see a mission you like on the list, it’s a good idea to just wait and see.”

“……What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Take it literally. You still don’t know much about the influence that a Special Admission No.1 holds.”

Aaron held the cigar in his fingers and continued.

“Take advantage of your position a little bit more.”

It was a secretive tip, like a riddle. Simon wanted to press for more details, but Aaron had started standing up as he tapped the ashes off his cigar and put it in the trash.

“Let’s return.”

“Ah, yes!”

* * *

* * *

After the next day’s classes, a mission bulletin board was installed in the dormitory, just as Aaron mentioned before.

The students were talking amongst themselves as they looked at the request forms. You could see four bulletin boards of different colors.

White – Missions within Roke Island. No possibility of encountering a Priest.

Blue – Missions within the Dark Alliance. Very low possibility of encountering a Priest.

Red – Missions within the Neutral Zone. High possibility of encountering a Priest.

Black – Missions within the Holy Federation. Will encounter a Priest.

“Since we relaxed at Roke Island last time, I should head out this time, right?”

“Anyone want to do a search mission in a Neutral Zone together?”

While letting the noisy voices of the other students go in through one ear and out the other, Simon and Pier carefully checked the four bulletin boards.

[There’s nothing! No matter how much I look, I don’t see any cases where the Captains might have been involved. Tsk! Too much peace on the continent is also a problem!]

‘Mmm.’

Simon silently nodded his head. He was just too lucky on the previous mission. It was very rare for traces of the ancient undead and the mission to match perfectly.

[There’s one mission that at least seems to have a possibility.]

Pier’s gaze turned to the black request form.

[Innumerable teeth marks and a corpse that was eaten alive, huh? You can guess it’s the work of The Prince, who leads the zombies… But I’m not quite sure about it with this much information. And the risk is too high for us to find out in person.]

‘Yeah. I’ve heard it’s almost impossible to get Professor’s permission for a black request form.’

This time, he focused on high-paying missions. Simon realized it while buying a golem recently, but capital was really important for a Necromancer.

‘Ugh.’

However, there was no mission that Simon liked amongst the high-paying ones. Perhaps it was because he earned more than 500 gold last time, so his standards went up, but all the missions were disappointing.

‘I guess I’ll try to follow Professor Aaron’s tip.’

From Simon’s perspective, there was no choice but to be careful. He needed a mission to earn a stable amount of money in a situation where he didn’t know when the next mission would come.

“Simon! Did you pick one?”

Rick was holding a white request form again.

“Not yet. By the way, are you going for a white one this time, too? Won’t it get harder in the future if you keep doing easy tasks?”

“Tomorrow’s problems are for tomorrow’s me!”

Rick put his request form in his mouth, took off his uniform jacket, and slung it over his shoulder.

“Besides, isn’t Kizen a place where you can be expelled at any time if something goes wrong? We need to spend every day wisely!”

“A mission in Roke Island is what you call spending time wisely, huh…?”

“Hehehe. I have a plan. Other than that, let’s go grab some midnight snacks!”

* * *

The next day.

Simon decided to wait without registering a mission, Camibarez took on a blue request form this time, and Meilyn said she was still exhausted from the Kera Island, so she decided to quickly finish a white mission and rest in the dorms.

“Cough! Cough! Cough!”

And the first class for today was Poisonous Alchemy.

“

Cough! Cough!

I’m sorry. I’ll count on you today, too!”

“Yes, Professor. Please go get some rest.”

Lang Strauss, our Poisonous Alchemy professor, was becoming increasingly ill. He coughed out blood while teaching, and his head assistant, Francesca, was taking over more often.

Recently, the frequency of him vomiting blood had increased, so Francesca even conducted theory classes. There were even times where Lang didn’t appear in class at all.

The students were genuinely worried about Lang’s health, but deep inside, they waited for Francesca to come up to the lecture desk.

Lang’s class was a battle against drowsiness, but Francesca’s class was as professional and dynamic as any other regular professor’s. Many students were saying that Lang should retire and Francesca should take over.

“It’s a bit harsh to say this, but I don’t think Professor Lang is competitive in Kizen, a strict school based in a meritocracy.”

Meilyn was a supporter of Francesca, like most students.

“How can you force such a savage competition only on students and allow professors to settle on the same position despite their past reputations? Isn’t that a bit weird?”

“That’s why I’m saying it’s not as simple as it sounds.”

Rick was on the side of maintaining the current situation.

“If there’s a change in the position of Professor in Kizen, the professor and his assistants all have to leave the school. Those positions will be filled by other professors and their assistants. It’s like… an entire government changing.”

Simon nodded as though he understood, and Rick continued talking.

“Who doesn’t know that assistant teacher Francesca is capable? I, too, want to listen to her classes. But if Professor Lang leaves, the teaching assistant must also leave.”

“Ughh. That’s complicated.”

Muttered Meilyn, resting her chin. This time, Camibarez asked a question.

“Can’t Assistant Teacher Francesca become a Kizen professor?”

“Realistically speaking, becoming a professor right off the bat would be difficult.”

Rick waved his fingers.

“The assistant teacher is a special position between the educator and the servants of Kizen. Technically, it’s more of a class helper than an educator.”

Meilyn frowned.

“A helper? Watch your mouth.”

“I’m just explaining the way they’re recognized. Of course, It’s possible for them to get into a higher position by receiving the professor’s recommendation and through recognition of their teaching experience, but for an assistant teacher to become a professor right away… Well, action by someone on a Nefthis level would be necessary to make it possible.”

Step.

When the sound of footsteps was heard right in front of them, Rick and the members of Group 7 all shut their mouths, their faces going stiff.

Without them realizing it, the 15-minute break had ended, and Francesca came into the lecture room.

And she was staring straight at Simon and his friends.

——