REAPER SCANS
Necromancer Academy's Genius Summoner
[Translator - Ramen]
[Proofreader - Artethrax]
Chapter 364
The Summoning Academy.
Third floor, a practice room.
Slowly getting himself into a state of concentration like a meditating monk, Simon opened his eyes.
In front of him were 'hearts' on plates placed on a table in the practice room.
They were experimental hearts from toads and small mammals, decreasing in size as they went from left to right. Naturally, the smaller the heart, the higher the difficulty.
"Are you ready?"
The Professor of Summoning, Aaron, stood behind him with a timer in hand.
Simon nodded and firmly said,
"I'm ready, sir!"
"Begin."
Simon stepped confidently towards the heart on the far left.
First, he floated several tool magic circles in the air to assist him, then used his Cloud to lift the heart into the air. Next, he carefully inscribed tiny magic circles on its surface to prevent the heart from bursting.
'The first band.'
A magic circle activated. The emerging jet-black slowly made an arch, forming a circle around the heart.
"It's done!"
The heart remained floating in the air even after Simon removed his hand and Cloud. Aaron nodded.
"Well done. Next band."
Keeping the heart in the center, a band flowed diagonally clockwise around the heart. Simon immediately constructed another band flowing counterclockwise next to it.
'The second one is okay, too.'
Actually, the challenging part started now.
He had to create the smallest band within the two intersecting bands, moving in an X.
This would form the third band that moved back and forth across the heart.
Simon carefully raised both arms.
'Focus…!'
He drew a magic circle on the heart and began creating the third band for the magic circle.
Squuueeelch!
The heart burst. Blood almost splattered everywhere, but it was blocked by a barrier that Aaron had cast beforehand.
"You were hasty."
Aaron turned off the timer he was holding.
"The magic circle fails like that when you focus too much on creating the third band without understanding the flow of the other two bands."
"…Ah."
"You need to understand the harmony of each element, Simon."
Aaron went to demonstrate it himself. Taking the next heart in line, he inscribed a magic circle on the floating heart and quickly conjured two bands.
"Now, watch carefully as I create the third band."
Ba-thump! Ba-thump!
The heart was still beating due to the pulsing jet-black. Aaron drew a magic circle and wrapped it around the third band.
The third band wasn't drawn at a constant speed from start to finish. He stopped, drew, stopped, drew, and repeated in sync with the heart's beating.
"Submit to harmony and accept the flow."
When the first band made 1 full rotation and the second band made 0.8 rotations, the third band began to operate.
"Like a chord played on a piano, you must understand how a small element impacts the whole."
And so, the third band was completed.
The movement back and forth around the heart matched the speed of the heartbeat.
'I see.'
It wasn't just about creating a permanent band. It was like the heart was moving the three bands as it pumped.
Harmony.
Simon felt that the three simple bands moving around the heart were the epitome of elegance.
"Don't think of the Life Vessel as merely the heart of an undead."
Quietly added Aaron.
"It's about attaching a living, breathing heart to an undead's chest. It's an act closer to creation than summoning, so approach it with reverence. Discard any sense of certainty over the outcome and control everything from start to finish.
"Thank you, sir."
Aaron picked up the timer again.
"We still have many hearts. Try again."
"Yes, sir!"
Simon failed several times, bursting heart after heart.
But he found areas for improvement every time he failed.
'I have to hold on until the end.'
He wasn't afraid of failure.
Every time he stumbled over a hurdle, he picked up the scattered pieces needed for success and stuffed them into his pocket before running again.
'What went wrong there?'
He kept crafting theories and proving them wrong in his mind as he tested them on each heart.
The more samples, the more reliable the hypothesis became.
Failures accumulated, forming a foundation beneath him.
And finally…
"Congratulations, Simon."
Said Aaron, turning off his timer.
"After the 16th attempt today and your 216th attempt overall, you succeeded."
Simon saw the three rotating bands in front of his eyes.
His eyes on the verge of giving in to exhaustion, he stared at it blankly. But the thrill began building, forcing him to clench his fists until…
"Yesssss!"
He raised his arms high and fell over.
His entire body was drenched in sweat, and blood stained his clothes from the splattering hearts, but he smiled in satisfaction.
Aaron looked at his pupil with immense pleasure and then turned his back.
"Clean up before you leave."
"Yes! Thank you, professor!"
When Aaron opened the door of the practice room and stepped outside…
"Hieek?!"
A strange sound was heard.
Camibarez, holding a fresh towel and a water bottle, stood there with her shoulders hunched.
"H-H-Hello, Professor Aaron!"
Blushing, Camibarez bowed deeply.
Aaron gave a faint smile and said,
"Camibarez Ursula, do you have any business in the summoning practice room?"
"Oh, y-you see…"
"I'm just joking. Go ahead."
"Th-Thank you, Professor!"
Camibarez called out Simon's name and ran inside.
"I guess he's managing school life well."
With an old smile, Aaron put his hands in his pockets and shuffled away in his slippers.
* * *
Reaper Scans
Translator - Ramen
Proofreader - Artethrax
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* * *
"Alright~ you bastards! Are you all ready?"
They had Poisonous Alchemy class that afternoon.
Belya, the professor of poisonous alchemy, shouted,
"Swallow!"
The students simultaneously swallowed the pills they had in their mouths. In an instant, hives broke out all over their skin.
"Form the blood poison! Stimulate your immune system to activate the resistance system built up in your body! Those whose hives disappear first, raise your hands and get checked by the assistant teachers!"
Simon closed his eyes and focused on the flow within his body.
Belya's immune-system class was the natural evolution of the 'poison-eating classes' that had been a big issue since the beginning of the semester.
Now, it was more than just enduring poison. Her performance assessment was on how quickly they could adapt and produce antibodies to stabilize their bodies when harmful substances entered their body.
Simon was pretty average regarding the magic side of creating 'jet-black poisons', but he was unrivaled in this immune-system class.
It probably started during the 'desert scorpion hunt' he did with Camibarez.
Inflicted with the monster's venom, Simon lost consciousness and was in a dangerous situation, but he ultimately overcame the venom.
Since then, Simon's resistance system, which was based on dark magic and therefore acted faster and stronger with use like jet-black, had risen considerably. He was the quickest to recover from hives in Class A.
Fwish!
Simon's hand shot up after checking that his face was free from hives in the mirror. The assistant teacher checked him then looked at the timer.
"Simon Polentia! 6 minutes and 10 seconds!"
There were clamors among the students.
The chief assistant teacher checked Simon's condition again and wrote his name beside first place on the board.
"Hector Moore! 6 minutes and 43 seconds!"
"Dammit!"
Hector pounded the desk in rage. Belya laughed loudly at the sight.
"Hey, well done, Dragon! Second place isn't bad, either!"
Hector quickly shifted his face and bowed politely to Belya. Looking at this, Rick snickered, whispering, "Two-faced Hector," under his breath.
Time passed and, although some took longer than others, all the students in the class succeeded in forming their resistance systems.
"Well, you guys are doing this pretty easily now. That's it for today's class! Have a great weekend~"
"Thank you!"
The final class of the day, Belya's Poisonous Alchemy class, had just ended.
Simon and Rick were chatting as they were about to head back to the dorm, then two boys from Class A—Poisonous Alchemy aspirants—came toward them.
"Simon! How did your resistance system get so good?!!"
"Teach us, please!"
Since he wasn't necessarily hiding it or anything, Simon shared the story about the desert scorpion he hunted with Camibarez.
Hearing the story, the two boys were dumbfounded.
"D-Do we need to get stung by a desert scorpion as well?"
"There are many dumb ways to die, y'know?"
Rick laughed and told them not to even think about it.
As the four of them walked while chatting mindlessly, they noticed a girl peeking around outside the practice room.
She wore a short skirt, complex eye makeup, and had cream-colored hair. From the looks of things, she seemed to be searching for someone.
"Woah."
One of the boys walking with them whistled.
"Who's that girl?"
"Hey, hey. Watch your mouth."
Rick freaked out and warned,
"She's one of our seniors: a second-year."
From the perspective of first-year students, second-years in Kizen were absolute beings. The boy quickly covered his mouth.
"Ah!"
At that moment, the second-year senior waved toward them.
"Comrade~"
"?"
They looked around to see who she was calling, and then Simon widened his eyes.
"Senior Benya!"
Simon excused himself from the others and ran toward her. Left behind, Rick and the two boys made an envious face.
"He said Benya, right? Surely she's not Benya Vanilla, is she?!"
"…Man, life."
They could see the two greeting each other warmly and talking.
Then, Simon grabbed Benya's wrist in excitement and started running. Surprised, Benya was pulled along while shouting, "Wait, comrade!"
"Whew."
The envy visible in the eyes of the three boys grew bigger.
"…Simon is bolder than how he looks, huh?"
"Rick!"
Just then, Meilyn and Camibarez came running from behind.
"Where's Simon?"
Rick shrugged.
"He ran off somewhere, holding the wrist of a beautiful senior."
"What???"
"Huh?"
Both Camibarez' and Meilyn's faces turned ice cold.
* * *
Finally, the time had come.
"The heart that you ordered for the Life Vessel has arrived! It's now in Rochest."
The time to create the lich of his dreams.
Tonight, Simon planned to begin.
"Wait for me~!"
When Simon turned around, he saw Benya panting as she ran from afar. No matter how fast she ran, even stepping on jet-black, she couldn't keep up with Simon's pace.
Realizing that he had been too excited, Simon stopped and waited for her to catch up.
"I'm sorry!"
"Ugh, honestly!"
Benya opened her subspace and took out a skeleton horse. She jumped onto it and shouted while reaching her arms out,
"Grab on!"
Swish!
Simon grabbed her hand, stepped up onto the horse's stirrups, and climbed up behind her.
"Have you ever ridden a horse?"
"Yes! Shall I handle it?"
"Take the reins."
Benya shifted the side, and Simon passed her and took the reins.
And so, the skeleton horse arrived in Rochest at top speed.
"We got here in no time!"
Having gotten off first, Simon took Benya's hand to help her down like a proper gentleman.
"Thank you."
She landed gracefully and put the skeleton horse back into her subspace.
"This way, let's go!"
"Yes, Senior."
Having made a lot of money at the Pentamonium conference, Simon decided to make a big purchase.
The item Simon ordered from Vanilla was 'Herseva's heart'.
The heart needed for a lich's Life Vessel, worth a whopping 25,000 gold, was now in Rochest.
——
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