Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

Simon slowly recollected his spar with Hong Feng.

She had held back against him so they were equal in strength and speed up until Simon had taken the physical advantage with Jet-Black Eruption.

Nevertheless, he was absolutely defeated.

The difference in experience and skill shouldn't be taken lightly, but Simon's skills were blocked by Hong Feng because she knew all of them, and Hong Feng's skills were new to Simon, so he was helpless against them.

It wasn't like the skills she used were any more difficult than Drum Beating, Roaring River, or Bayonet.

He was just defeated because he didn't know them.

"There's no originality in me."

Simon concluded and looked at Hong Feng.

"The problem was that I didn't have a technique of my own that could create a variable in the battle."

"Correct!"

At first, it may sound contradictory.

After all, Hong Feng was only teaching her students common combat skills, such as Drum Beating, Roaring River, and Bayonet.

However, these three skills were the basics. You could think of them as the minimum qualifications to even hold your own against the assistant teachers.

Ultimately, to beat the assistant teachers, you had to have your own skills that they didn't know.

"Of course, the assistant teachers learned the skills I taught. They obviously know how to counter them and their applications. To strike the teachers' weak points, you need to develop a new way of approaching things."

The final performance assessment in Combat Dark Magic wasn't just sparring with an assistant teacher.

It was about learning your own approach to the subject.

Whether it worked against assistant teachers or not, just having one skill they don't know could dramatically increase your odds of winning.

"This is difficult."

Simon realized Hong Feng's hidden intention, but he still felt just as lost. It wasn't like he could make a new combat dark spell on a whim.

"Then, shall we do some special training starting now?"

As she said this, she pulled out a wickless candlestick. The candlestick sparked with blue flames when she used her jet-black to light it.

"I challenge you to blow out this candlestick."

She placed the candlestick on a nearby rock.

"You may not touch it, and you have until end of class. Blow out the candlestick without touching it.

At first glance, it looked easy enough, but Simon figured it had some trick or device installed since this task was coming from Hong Feng.

"And here's a question! What's the biggest difference between dark magic and combat dark magic?"

Simon answered immediately.

"The presence of a magic circle."

"Correct! You're not allowed to create a magic circle to blow out the candlestick. Only combat dark magic is allowed. Then, good luck!"

Hong Feng started walking back to the training grounds so she could supervise the rest of the tests.

"Thank you for your guidance, Professor!"

Simon bowed to her, then stood in front of the candlestick.

[Kuhehehe!]

Simon heard Pier's laughter inside his head as Hong Feng disappeared.

Startled, Simon stammered and said,

"P-Pier! How long have you been watching?"

[I've been watching since you started sparring with that woman. Other than that,]

The eyes of Pier's clone turned to the candlestick.

[I can't believe they're still doing this old-fashioned training!]

"What?"

[Even when Richard was still at Kizen, he used to do this training in his combat dark magic class!]

Simon's eyes lit up at that.

"How long did my father take?"

[Two days.]

"Then, I will…"

Simon confidently took his fighting stance.

"Finish it in one!"

And with that, he punched straight with his right fist.

Swish.

Simon's fist stopped right in front of the candle. The wind caused the flame to flicker and then return to normal.

"Oh, this seems easier than I thought."

[Kuhehe!]

Recovering his fist, Simon now raised jet-black into his fist, preparing 'Drum Beating', and punched.

Swiiiish!

Again, the flame flickered, but that was it.

He tried Roaring River as well, but the result was the same.

"Then what about this one…?!"

Simon formed a 'Bayonet' in his hand and swung it sideways above the candle. The flame wavered more violently than previous tries, but it returned to its original form.

[Kuhahahahahaha!]

Pier was howling with laughter.

[Like father like son! He flailed about in the exact same way!!]

"…Shut up!"

Replied Simon, his face burning red.

When he calmed down and thought about it, he remembered that blowing out the candle was an exercise to develop his new skill. There was no way that the candle would go out if he used the same skill he had learned before.

'I was stupid. I was too focused on blowing out the candle.'

Simon tried different things.

He punched and kicked in different ways, experimenting with the specifics of the technique.

A dash punch, a roundhouse kick with more spins than usual, and more. But the flame barely even flickered before returning to its original shape.

Before he knew it, sweat was dripping down his forehead.

"…I guess this showed the best result so far."

Simon placed a wooden plank in front of the candle, pulled out a potion from his poisonous alchemy class, and glued it firmly to the rock. The flame shook violently when he used Roaring River with the flame set-up like that.

This made one thing clear to him.

This candle needed to be extinguished with jet-black, not wind.

"Hmm."

Simon picked up the wooden plank again, dropped it to the ground, and stood facing the candlestick.

'Like letting the Roaring River…'

Simon opened his palm in front of the candle with a serious face.

'…explode in a straight line!'

Swish!

Jet-black shot out of his palm and shook the flame. It was even closer to going out this time.

"…But this isn't combat dark magic. It's nothing but me releasing condensed jet-black."

He had to get into a proper stance. Simon remembered once of Hong Feng's many stances from when they sparred before.

"Is this how she did it?"

He brought his right hand beside his waist and had his left hand raised in a loose guard in front of his face.

'From this position, rotate the waist naturally and thrust out the right arm near the waist…'

Swoosh!

Jet-black stretched out from Simon's palm and struck the candle. The flame swayed more precariously than ever, almost going out, and then returned back to normal.

"So close!"

[Kuhehe!]

He was starting to get interested.

Simon's thoughts moved at a million miles a minute, and his body moved even faster.

"Partial Jet-Black Eruption!"

Simon cranked up the jet-black on his right arm to his limit and thrust it out. This time again, the candle almost went out, but it narrowly recovered.

Simon was gasping for breath but smiled with satisfaction.

Thinking that this could be used in actual battle, Simon had never felt more excited while gasping for breath.

"But I can still feel the jet-black scattering and spluttering. I need to make it more precise."

Simon concentrated the jet-black solely on his middle finger, standing directly in front of the candle, then flicked his fingers in a way that allowed the jet-black to shoot forward.

Bang!

It worked! The flame had gone out completely!!

Except a small ember brought it all back to life.

The dark fire danced in front of him, taunting him

"One finger isn't enough!"

Simon put his middle and ring fingers together into a single flick, then used his left hand to support his right.

"One more time!"

Baaaaang!

As the jet-black fired out with the force of a bullet, the candle was extinguished completely once more. Simon watched on nervously, but not a single spark remained.

"I did it!!"

Shouted Simon, raising his fists into the air.

[Kuhehehe!]

Pier's clone, who had been watching on at Simon's side, also bore shining eyes.

'This bastard might actually surpass you, Richard.'

* * *

* * *

Simon returned to the training grounds with about 20 minutes left before the end of class.

Hong Feng and the other assistant teachers were busy assigning students to go through the course on the training grounds.

'I need to rest for a bit.'

Just as Simon sat down in the shade of a tree and rested his back against it…

"Hello."

Someone started a conversation with him.

They were in the same class, so Simon recognized his face, but this was the first time they had a conversation.

"My name is Philip Elande."

The student had curly brown hair. Simon realized he was the Combat Dark Magic aspirant who tried the course ahead of Simon on the training grounds earlier.

"Yeah, what's up?"

"No, it's nothing, just…"

Philip looked back at the students tripping over the wooden arms, then back to Simon.

"I was wondering why a Summoning aspirant is so good at combat dark magic."

'What is he trying to say?'

As Simon grew suspicious, Philip shrugged his shoulders.

"You don't have any intentions to join our course, right?"

"Not yet, I guess."

Philip paused and watched the next student pass through the course.

It was Jamie, the class president's turn, so many students had come to watch.

"I was scolded harshly by an assistant teacher when you and Hong Feng left."

"Hm?"

"He asked how a Combat Dark Magic aspirant could lose against an aspirant of another subject. You know, things like that. Honestly, this isn't the first time that's happened."

"…"

His words had a sting in them.

There was a hint of blame in there, too.

"I'm sorry to hear you got in trouble, but what are you trying to say?"

"No, just… Let's do what's easy for all of us, get it?"

Philip looked Simon in the eyes, and there Simon could see both envy and anger.

"It can't be helped with tests like BDMAT, but in classes like this? Read the room, will you?"

"Read the room?"

"Let's be honest here. You're the reason we're getting scolded."

Simon was dumbfounded.

He hadn't expected to be thrown shade for his hard work in Kizen, a place where merit ruled.

"I'm—"

"What are you doing here?"

Both of them turned their heads in surprise.

A male student wearing a black robe over his Kizen uniform approached them. He had familiar gray hair and a scar over his eye.

"Kajann!"

Simon blinked in surprise. Philip frowned.

"…Who are you? Y-You aren't Class A, are… you?"

Philip stopped talking.

Kajann was silently staring at him.

He didn't do anything, but Philip's face began to grow pale, like he was getting strangled.

"Well, whatever."

Kajann turned his head back to look at Simon.

"I need to talk to you, Simon."

"Ah, yes."

Simon and Kajann left, and Philip left alone, gasping for air.

'Wh-What the hell was that? Is he really a human? His aura is just so—'

"Hey, Philip."

This time, the voice came from behind him. He turned around to see a female student wagging her finger.

"Hector wants to see you for a minute."

"!"

It was Hector this time? Why Hector all of a sudden?

He didn't know, but he had no choice. Philip followed her with an uneasy face.

"And then do you know what happened next?!"

"Bwahahaha!"

"It's all useless."

Hector was in the back, chatting with his faction.

Philip walked up to Hector with a guilty look.

"D-Did you call for me, Hector?"

Hector didn't answer. Everyone else seemed too busy talking.

As Philip was just growing more anxious, Hector raised his huge body and stood up.

"Hey."

Flinching, Philip reflexively replied,

"Yes! I–I mean! Hi!"

"I heard a really funny story just now."

He approached Philip, his eyes sharpening.

"What was that? Read the room? Let's do what's easy for all of us? Are you implying that for me?"

"N-Not at all! It's not you, but Simo—!"

The playful smiles of Hector's faction turned murderous.

"Oh my, that's crazy."

"Didn't you know Hector also passed the training grounds course?"

Hector stripped off his training suit. The fruits of his labor, his muscular body, was revealed.

"Clench your teeth."

His massive arms were raised.

"This is going to be a dog fight, so feel free to fight back."

"W-Wait, Hector—!"

Thud!

A dull tone rang out as one of Philip's teeth flew from his mouth, reflecting in the sunlight. He faltered and fell to the ground.

"Why!"

Smack!

"Is the!"

Slam!

"Proud aspirant of Combat Dark Magic!"

Pow!

"Just letting himself get kicked in the ass?!"

Thud! Pow! Crush!

Hector's shoe slammed into the fallen Philip's face. Blood streamed out of Philip's broken nose.

Several students around them turned their heads away. And a few others were blocking out the sound and sight with dark magic to keep the others from noticing.

"Now."

Said Hector, drearily, lowering his leg.

"Do you feel like fighting back?"

Covered in blood, Philip's eyes flashed ferociously. He stood up, shouted, and threw a punch.

The moment Philip's fist was about to reach Hector's face…

Incomparably faster, Hector grabbed Philip's head and slammed him into the ground.

Even in combat dark magic alone, Hector overwhelmed him.

"Huh, jeez."

"You're gonna get caught, Hector."

His faction members chuckled as Hector wiped the red off his hands.

Bathed in blood, Philip was unconscious, with his mouth agape.

"Make sure no one finds out."

"Alright, alright~"

The faction's Poisonous Alchemy aspirant popped the cap off a potion and poured it into Philip's bloodied face.

"By the way, you've been getting really strong lately."

A male student sitting on a rock said with a smile.

"If it's that much, maybe you can go against Simon~"

"Not yet."

Hector clenched his fists like boulders.

"I'm still not trying hard enough."

* * *

On the other hand, Kajann and Simon have come to a secluded spot away from the training rounds.

"What brings you here all of a sudden, Kajann?"

"Open it."

Said Kajann, handing over an envelope.

"It's new information about Professor Walter."

——