Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

Simon had been tossed in the air five times by the surrounding students.

Then, while the heat of the mission success was still cooling down…

What remained of the boss monster melted into the ground as a light shimmered in the sky and gift boxes fell.

"That's crazy!"

"It must've been a mission with a prize!"

There was one for each of them. A gift box dropped in front of everyone. While this happened, Simon was still gasping for air, sprawled out on the floor from the shock of being tossed in the air.

"What's… inside the gift box?"

Panted Simon.

The crescent-moon-headband girl opened her box and smiled.

Hearing that, Simon immediately regained his senses, hurrying over to open his own box.

What they said was right. Moreover, it wasn't just any kind of skeleton, but a skeleton mage set made by the 'Franc' brand. They were one of Vanilla's strongest rivals.

'They're giving away something this expensive as a prize? The BDMAT this time is really something.'

It looked like they had prepared a gift for summoners since it was a yellow card game.

Simon had a big smile on his face.

"Everyone, good w—"

As he was about to give a congratulatory speech, Simon froze. All the students were smiling at him weirdly.

There was a quick exchange of glances between them, and they nodded one by one.

"Here, Simon."

The students began to put their skeleton mage sets down before him.

When eight skeleton mage sets were stacked in front of him, Simon said in confusion,

"Wh-What's wrong, everyone?"

The girl with the headband smiled awkwardly and waved her hand dismissively to say it was no big deal.

"We have a conscience, too, you know."

"Honestly, you did all the work."

"We're not Summoning aspirants, so we don't really need these that badly."

The Combat Dark Magic aspirant next to her put his hand on Simon's shoulder.

"Just take it. This isn't a request."

Then, he was the first one to leave through the portal. The other students followed after him.

'…Haha.'

Simon's eyes welled with tears.

It was a little touching.

* * *

"Good job, everyone!"

One by one, the students waved each other off as they exited the game. Simon also grabbed the skeleton mage sets and headed out through the portal.

When he left, four hours had already passed, and this round of the BDMAT was already over.

All around, he could see students laughing together as they headed back to their dorms or to the cafeteria.

Simon walked back to his dorm.

He had gotten two more cards this BDMAT.

However, that wasn't what he was most excited by.

In his subspace were two boxes of crystal skeletons and eight skeleton mage sets as prizes. It was such great loot that he wondered if it was fine to leave things like this.

'I can't wait to start assembling them!'

Simon's head was filled with thoughts of building the skeleton mages.

He decided to save the crystal skeleton for now since he didn't know what would happen in the future.

"Oh, you're back, Simon!"

When he got back to room 409, Rick greeted him boisterously.

He was already ready to go to the public bath and was waiting for Simon.

"The siege this time was also super fun! The tactics they're using keep getting better and better!"

Rick never stopped talking as they grabbed towels and made their way to the bathhouse.

He placed his arm around Simon's neck and said,

"Promise me that you'll play the siege theme with me next time, alright?"

"Fine, fine. I promise."

Apparently, the siege theme took place on the Kizen castle walls every time. Of course, the card's location kept changing, but it was certain that it was somewhere on the walls.

Simon promised that next time, he would join Rick in playing the siege theme.

"Ugh, my arms are so oily. Let's get in already!"

Shouted Rick, pulling the doorknob to the public bathhouse.

As the door opened, a shocking scene was revealed. Sweaty men were stripping off their shirts to reveal their muscular upper bodies, sending clouds of steam in all directions.

Behind them, naked male students could be seen rushing into the water. Rick quietly closed the bathhouse door.

"Let's just wash up in our bathroom."

"Y-Yeah."

* * *

* * *

After taking a shower, Simon decided to craft the skeleton mage he had received as a prize.

When he was about to walk out of room 409 with the skeleton mage set in hand, Rick, lying in bed, looked at him like he was crazy.

"…You just finished a big test and your first instinct is to build something like a skeleton?"

Simon, clutching his skeleton mage set preciously in his arms, smiled broadly and replied,

"Yeah!"

"…You're really something, you know."

Rick shook his head.

Simon left room 409 and arrived at the dorm's common room.

When he opened the door, it was empty. Everyone seemed to be taking a break or going to the cafeteria.

Simon took the widest seat and set the box down.

[Magnificent attitude, Boy!!]

Suddenly, Pier's loud voice burst into his tired mind.

[Increasing the strength of the Legion is more important than anything else! Anything!]

"I know, I know."

Simon stared at the box. The text 'skeleton mage' was written in the center, and the 'Francs' logo was in fancy golden letters underneath it.

After some humming and hawing, he opened it with excitement like a child opening a birthday present.

"Wooaah…"

Simon melted with excitement.

Inside the box was a soft, wine-red cushion with a skull placed in the center. Around it were compartments containing the skeleton mage's vertebrae, arm bones, leg bones, and everything else to create the skeleton, all perfectly sorted.

[Boy! There's a box underneath, too.]

"Yeah, I think it has a second layer."

Simon removed the box with the skull, set it aside, and then opened the one underneath.

"A staff?"

Inside the box was a wooden staff for the skeleton mage. The staff was separated into two parts, the upper and lower halves.

Simon took the staff out first, removed the sticker from the lower connecting body, and then attached them together.

Then, perhaps the staff's built-in magic activated, because the two glued together as if they were one.

When Simon looked at the surface, there was no seam to be found where they had joined. It was like they had always been one.

"I feel bad saying this when I'm friends with Senior Benya Vanilla, but the Franc brand is getting better and better."

[Kuhehehehehe!]

But there was no instruction or manual anywhere. Simon was rummaging through the compartments when Pier said,

[Boy, try opening the lid of the box.]

"The lid?"

Now that he looked at it, there was a small tab protruding from the top of the box.

When Simon pulled it…

Thump!

Out of nowhere, a stack of thick papers fell down.

'Are you saying all of this is the manual?'

It was almost like a book. He flipped through it, and it was densely filled with formulas.

Simon's eyes trembled.

[Kuhahahahaha!]

Pier's raucous laughter filled Simon's ears.

[Do you realize it now? Even when it comes to a simple skeleton mage, you're getting into real necromancer territory now!]

Simon had expected it to use something like the Magiste system he covered in Aaron's Summoning class, but he was completely mistaken.

The Magiste system used a pre-made skeleton mage that could be adjusted to find the best spell placement. Building a skeleton mage that used this system already required a significant amount of study.

And that was for 'assembling' a skeleton that had already been somewhat built.

Simon desperately smiled and rolled his sleeves up.

"…I-I'm getting worked up."

[Kuhehe, your face is saying the complete opposite of what you're saying!]

Simon regained his composure and went to the first page of the manual.

When he looked at it again, there was little about assembling the body, and 90% of the book was devoted to crafting the summoning magic circle for the skeleton mage.

'Let's get started.'

After skimming through the instructions, Simon laid out what was called a 'jet-black sheet' on his desk. It was a sheet on which he could craft the magic circle before applying it to the skeleton mage's skull.

The basis of a summoning magic circle was already there, but it was left very open to modification, meaning it was very incomplete.

"I need to gain control over it first."

Simon released the security, unlocked the circle, and then placed his jet-black to mark ownership over it.

Simon moistened his dry lips and moved on to the next step. He awakened the necessary formulas, plugged in the jet-black circuits, and looked at the manual.

"So I get to decide what dark magic the skeleton mage will use!"

For a skeleton wielding a weapon like a bow, their past experience before death as a monster was important. Because that was how you created weapons-wielding undead: from using the memories in their bones.

Skeleton mages, however, are undead that use magic. Any skeleton who practiced magic while they were alive fulfilled the basic requirements and can use any spell chosen by the caster, regardless of which spells they practiced.

Simon thought of Meilyn's ice magic, which he was most familiar with.

"Maybe I'll go with an Ice Bolt first."

Simon got absorbed into the formulas.

Then…

He had concentrated a little too much.

Knock knock.

As he heard someone knocking at the door to the common room, Simon looked up. He saw the dorm manager poking her head out.

"Th-That surprised me! Mister! What are you doing here at this time of night?"

"What?"

"Look out the window!"

It was already the early crack of dawn.

The kind of dawn where the darkness was gradually giving way to the rays of light.

Simon blinked with a vacant look, then slowly stood up.

"I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about, but please go and get some sleep! Well, not that you can even get much sleep at this point…"

Time had passed in the blink of an eye.

Simon picked up his precious magic circle sheet, folded it away into the box, and pushed himself up.

* * *

"I'll give you all a heads up."

It was time for the first class of the day, Summoning. Aaron scratched at his disheveled hair.

"Starting next class, we will fully start making skeleton mages."

The class cheered in anticipation at Aaron's announcement.

"We're finally going to make them!"

"An undead that uses magic! This is so interesting!"

But the assistant teachers looking at the scene sighed inwardly. These cheers would soon turn into screams and begs for mercy in the next class.

"You will need to bring a skeleton mage set."

Aaron began scribbling examples on the board.

"I'm not going to ask you to buy the expensive ones like the Vanilla or Franc brands, but at least get one of the models and brands I wrote on the board. Other brands have different systems for making skeleton mages."

Just then, Rick punched Simon in the arm.

"Hey, good for you, Simon! You happen to have the Franc brand, and we're all gonna make skeleton mages in the very next class, so you can just follow along!"

"…"

"Don't stay up till dawn again, man."

Looking serious, Simon locked his fingers together.

"When's our next Summoning class, again?"

"In two days."

"Then I have two more days left to finish it."

"…?"

Rick blinked like he wasn't sure he heard Simon right.

"No, what in the world do you mean you have two more days to finish? That's when you should be starting! Aaron and the assistant teachers will help you through every step!!"

Simon smiled without saying anything.

His goal wasn't to finish a skeleton mage. His final goal this year was to create a lich.

He couldn't let just a skeleton mage hold him back.

'No matter what, I'll finish the skeleton mage before Professor Aaron's next class.'

He had worked on the skeleton mage till dawn and found himself against a wall.

He wanted to break down that wall with his own strength.

"This should be something very obvious and I'm almost embarrassed that I have to mention this, but…"

Aaron slapped the board to get the students' attention once more.

"I want you to master the basics of jet-black elemental magic. You know, spells like Conjure Flame or Frost Bolt. I don't want any idiots who can't cast the spell you're going to have the skeleton mage use."

Rick's head quickly snapped to the side.

"Meilyn! I need some tutoring on jet-black elemental ice magic!"

"Ugh! You dumbassss!"

While Meilyn nagged at Rick, Simon was scribbling in his notebook.

Conjure Flame.

Gust.

Frost Bolt.

Simon was going to make three skeleton mages with three different attributes.

——