Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

Whirrr!

As Simon directed his divinity to flow into Whitey, the kitten shuddered.

Its white fur glistened, and it began to glow.

"This is also an important moment of awakening for this child."

Said Farahann, waving his fan.

"Ahhh… The moment one finally realizes it is a 'divine beast'."

Simon frowned slightly. He felt all of his divinity suddenly being sucked in by Whitey, then…

Whaaaaaap!

The kitten floated in the air and got engulfed in a blinding flash of light.

Simon's eyes shone in anticipation. The kitten seemed to shift and change, until…

Pshk!

The light disappeared, and the kitten fell back to the ground in its original form.

"Hm?"

Simon blinked in confusion.

Nothing had changed at all.

Whitey jumped up and down in place, then approached Simon and rubbed its face against his leg as it started purring.

It was like a child who had just been given uppies asking to go again.

"P-Professor."

Simon raised his head and looked at Farahann.

"The divine beast didn't change. Did I do something wrong?"

However, Farahann's mouth curved into a rather genuine smile.

"That's even better!"

"What?"

Unable to hide his excitement, Farahann exclaimed,

"It would seem that this kitten is no mere divine beast! I believe it may potentially be able to turn into an object or some unknown entity."

"…An object? But isn't it an animal?"

Farahann nodded his head.

"Have you ever heard of 'Arckan', the greatest Arc Paladin on the continent? He transforms his drake into an airship that flies through the skies. This kind of shifting requires much enlightenment from the divine beast itself. I suspect the reason this kitten failed to transform is because it is too young and inexperienced."

Simon tried it with Blackey next, but it was also unsuccessful. Blackey shone with light, but reverted to its original form and fell to the ground.

"Hmm, this isn't easy. I got it right away with Akalion."

While he was at it, Simon infused Akalion's body with divinity this time, and the tiny teddy bear plushie grew several times its size, transforming into a muscular bear.

Hiss!

The kittens, who were approaching Akalion to bully it, were frightened by its grown size and ran away. They took safety behind Simon's legs, shivering in fear.

Akalion snorted triumphantly as it grew larger. The tables were turned.

'The fact that he can activate a divine beast after only seeing it once is already splendid.'

Farahann stared at Simon with a satisfied smile and said,

"Even though you failed today, the possibilities of these divine beasts have grown, so don't be too anxious. You should be able to shift their forms soon enough."

"Thank you, Professor!"

Simon bowed his head.

"Well then, we will have to change our lesson plan slightly. We'll put more weight on the study of divine beasts, and the kittens will also have to be trained. You should keep trying to transform them so they can recognize themselves as divine beasts."

Simon nodded.

"Understood! I put my trust in you, Professor."

"For today, I'd like to teach you a very simple attack skill using Akalion…"

Having said that, Farahann stopped and looked at the watch on Simon's wrist."

"…but it would seem that time won't allow us."

"What?"

Simon quickly checked the time, his eyes immediately widening.

He hadn't realized just how fast time had flown. Two hours had passed in the blink of an eye.

'…Ugh! I was hoping to learn the skills for divine beasts, though!'

Although he felt bummed, he had to prepare for this morning's Poisonous Alchemy class. They were in the performance assessment period, so every class was important.

"Go ahead, hurry."

Said Farahann, already holding the kittens back in a tight hug.

Simon returned Akalion to its divine subspace, then called out,

"I'm counting on you for the kittens! I'll tell Cami as well!"

"Sure."

Simon raised up jet–black and began to sprint toward the campus.

The kittens meowed and tried to chase after Simon, but Farahann held them back.

"Looks like these kids have already chosen their owners."

Farahann grinned with satisfaction as the angry kittens gnawed his fingers.

* * *

* * *

'Th-That was super fast.'

Simon felt like it may have been a personal best for him, if he bothered to measure these things. He arrived at the Poisonous Alchemy academy lecture room with a few minutes to spare before class started.

'Is Rick not here yet?'

Simon looked around, seeing Rick's seat was empty despite him often arriving early. Also, for some reason, the lecture room felt somewhat noisy.

"Woah!"

"So cute!"

There was always one student in the class who would come in with something weird to get classmates' attention.

This time, it was a festive bunny-ear hat that wrapped around the wearer's face. Students were trying it on and giggling about it.

"Don't you think Cami would look good with this?"

"That's insane! This is definitely Cami's thing, for sure!"

"Wh-What?"

Camibarez blushed in embarrassment, a swarm of people suddenly surrounding her. However, she seemed quite interested, her wings flapping quickly.

"Just once! Wear it just once for us, please~"

It couldn't be helped. Cami was a sucker for begging.

"I-Is this how you wear it…?"

When Camibarez tilted her head in the bunny-ear hat, squeals of delight erupted from all over the room.

"Cami, you're so cuuuuuute!"

The female students were squealing, hugging her and showering her with compliments, while male students giggled like a happy uncle, utterly taken aback by the extreme show of cuteness.

"Hey!! Stop bullying Cami!!"

Hearing the commotion, Meilyn rushed over, her light-blue hair trailing behind her. A nearby student suddenly noticed her and quickly defended,

"W-We weren't bullying her!"

"Shut up."

Growled Meilyn.

"You obviously knew she'd feel pressured. What's the meaning of surrounding her like this?"

"Meilyn?"

But as soon as Meilyn spotted Camibarez in her bunny-ear hat, she fell to the floor, clutching her heart.

"M-Meilyn! What's wrong?"

"…"

'I-I couldn't breathe.'

It was seriously a murderous level of cuteness.

"Hm."

That's when Jamie, the class president, made a small grin and said,

"Don't you think Meilyn would look good in it, too?"

"Right, right!"

As the arrow was suddenly pointed towards her, Meilyn exclaimed in bewilderment,

"Hey! Why me, all of a sudden?!"

"Oh my, did you think you could just have all the joy of watching without paying for it? Everyone here wore it at least once."

Meilyn slowly pushed herself back, still on the floor.

"Th-That's none of my business! And I never saw you guys wearing it!"

"Hey now~"

Not letting go of this chance, Rick butted in, his eyebrows slyly wriggling.

"You're backing off now? How cowardly! What happened to the pride of nobles?!!"

"Stay out of this, commoner!"

Even Camibarez joined in, taking off the bunny-ear hat and handing it to Meilyn.

"I'd like to see Meilyn with bunny ears, too!"

"…Urk."

In the end, Meilyn accepted the hat with trembling hands, a bright red blush going up to her ears.

As she held the bunny hat like accepting or refusing would be the turning point of her life, a boy sneaked up on the group of spectators.

"S-Simon!"

Simon waved lightly. Meilyn's blush traveled all the way down her neck as she shouted,

"Y-You, go away!"

"Huh, why?"

Jamie stuck her head out and said with a mischievous smile.

"Weren't you just about to wear it? What, are you embarrassed if Simon sees it or something?"

"Hey!!"

Meilyn sent her a murderous glare, but Jamie lightly shrugged it off and looked behind her.

"Then, to make it fair, let's make Simon wear it after you. You good with that?"

Simon smiled.

"Sure."

"Woooooaaaaah!"

Now, she couldn't help but wear it.

As Meilyn fumbled with her hat, Cindy Vivace waved her hand with a frown.

"Stop being so coy and wear it already. I need to see Simon with bunny ears."

Cindy and a few other female students were already waiting for the next turn.

As Meilyn's face contorted with humiliation, letting out a groan and holding up the bunny ears hat above her head…

"Ah!"

"Professor is coming!"

Hearing that, the students rushed to their seats at a tremendous speed. Cindy clicked her tongue.

"Damn, you survived…"

"Cindy, you're dead to me! Dead!!"

"Holding grudges isn't very noble of you~"

The students took their seats. And immediately after, Belya, their Professor of Poisonous Alchemy, appeared with a coat full of holes slung over her shoulder.

"Have you lot been doing well?"

The students greeted her back warmly.

She tossed her coat aside and said,

"What funny business were you all up to? We could hear your laughter all the way down the hall."

The students let out awkward laughs, avoiding answering.

Soon, the assistant teachers all came in, standing at the back of the class.

"Yeah, yeah. It's important to have fun when you're having fun! Now. Let's get down to serious business, shall we? The performance assessment."

The students' faces stiffened.

'…It must be poison-eating.'

'Maybe the person who consumes the strongest poison gets an A+?'

Most of them were thinking similar things.

As tension grew, Belya took a document from one of her assistants.

"It seems like the previous Poisonous Alchemy professor rarely gave performance assessments in the first semester. Be prepared, as many high-point performance assessments will be given from now on. And today, we will have the first one."

She grinned, revealing her jagged, triangular teeth.

"Hunting venomous monsters! This will be worth 30% of your total performance assessment marks!"

30%!

The students' eyes widened.

"If you think it's just an ordinary monster hunting, you're wrong. We're only going to hunt the tricky monsters that most have almost given up on hunting in each territory."

Venomous monsters were said to be one level of danger higher than normal ones.

It was naturally because of the danger of their venom. Even if you successfully hunted down the monster, the normally negligible cuts and scratches from the fight could quickly turn lethal.

"Additionally, the monsters you'll be hunting have been chosen so that the poison resistance and antibodies you've built up in class won't work against them. Which means that, if you get poisoned, you'll die just like the rest of the ordinary people."

'Nothing is easy, huh?'

Thought Simon, nodding along with Belya's explanation.

"Two things will be assessed."

Said Belya, holding up two fingers.

"First, the success in hunting. Second, the perfection of an antidote. You must collect a monster's venom, concoct the antidote on the spot, consume it, and then successfully hunt that monster down."

Click.

As an assistant teacher opened a case, it revealed a colorful array of bottled ingredients.

"We've prepared a basic antidote kit. But, of course, this won't be enough. You'll need to source the other ingredients locally."

Hunting venomous monsters that conventional antibodies don't work against and preparing antidotes on the spot on top of that…

As expected from a 30% performance assessment, it was quite challenging.

"Oh, come on, don't be scared."

Seeing the students' terrified faces, Belya waved her hand dismissively.

"As long as you do what you've been taught, you should be able to pass without any problems. The test will start in two hours from now. We'll use the teleportation magic circle to go directly to the site. You'll have eight hours to hunt a venomous monster and concoct an antidote for it, then you'll pass. That's all."

Just then, a hand was raised.

"This is Jamie Victoria, Professor! How big will the groups be? …Even the regular groups of four may struggle here."

The other students quickly nodded their heads in agreement.

"Four? Look at this tough guy, trying to pass the performance assessment without effort!"

Belya smirked.

"The assessment this time will be done in pairs!"

——