Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

The next morning's class was Necromancy. In other words, the first half of the day was free for Simon.

Scratch. Tap, tap, scratch.

Starting early in the morning, Simon had been frantically scribbling formulas on a blackboard in an empty lecture room. His shirt collar was wrinkled from being crushed over and over again by the movement of his shoulder, and beads of sweat were dripping from his hair.

Tap.

On the last formula, his last stroke lengthened, then stopped with a dot.

'This is it.'

Simon put down the chalk and ran to his desk.

A skeleton mage set and a magic circle sheet were set on a space created by pushing together four tables. Simon looked at the board and began carefully tweaking the formula and the circuit of the magic circle.

"The main circuit was the problem in the first place."

Simon's jet-black flew into the magic circle, and he began to correct the errors. He created new paths, and the underlying formulas were transformed.

After neatly correcting his previous mistakes, Simon again placed his hand on the magic circle.

"Activate."

Whirrr!

The magic circle started to move.

The jet-black awakened the runes, and intricate connections between processed the actions of those runes into a useful form based on a plethora of formulas.

Jet-black flowed like a river over the circuits that stretched like cobwebs from the center, and then ten lines glowed with a beautiful navy blue.

'So far, so good.'

Having checked the magic circle's status, Simon's gaze now turned to the staff fixed on the table.

He connected the magic circle's circuit to the staff. If the spell could be cast normally from the staff, the undead assembled from this skeleton could do the same.

'Please!'

A replica of the magic circle was conjured above the staff. And then…

Bzzzt!

With spark, the magic circle collapsed.

"Haaaah."

Simon collapsed as well. It felt like his entire body was giving up.

"What could be the problem…?"

Muttered Simon through parched lips as he looked back at the board.

A magic circle is an ecosystem where everything has to be perfectly interwoven for it to be stable.

If you make a bug extinct, then you're threatening its natural predators, the spiders and mantises. The birds that eat these would disappear, the snakes that eat the birds would disappear, and so on.

All Simon could see was that he made the bug go extinct, and the snakes disappeared.

Simon couldn't understand the cause and effect that happened in the middle.

It felt like he was swimming a never-ending Moebius strip.

He felt a great wall.

"When can I make a lich?"

He was embarrassed.

What was he thinking, talking about the highest ranking undead in front of Aaron, when he can't even make a skeleton mage right now?

"Ughh."

Simon wiped the slab of sweat off his reddened face and laid down on the floor.

The ceiling of the empty lecture room came into his view. A wind blew, ruffling his hair.

"Still…"

Simon smirked and looked at the fluttering curtains. In the glass of the window, he faintly saw his tired face and the bags under his eyes.

"This is fun."

After spacing out for a while, Simon stood back up. Having cleared his head, the next idea and the next one after that came rushing in.

It was fun to run toward a goal. Sometimes he ran out of breath, sometimes he rolled his ankle, but he knew there was an end to the struggle. And he knew that the view from the top would be amazing, too.

"Alright, we'll see who wins."

Simon rushed to the board and began substituting the corrected formulas he just thought of.

He couldn't let himself already be exhausted when he declared he would make a lich someday.

Simon thought to himself,

'I will finish the skeleton mage myself.'

* * *

* * *

"Lalala, lalala."

Meilyn was walking happily across the campus grounds, singing to herself as she walked.

She was in an unusually good mood today.

'What's up with him, anyway?'

That's because Simon had asked to see her alone before the afternoon class started.

No Rick, No Camibarez, just him and her.

It was making Meilyn nervous as Simon wasn't usually like this.

So today, Meilyn got up early and prepared. Her hair was in good condition today and her make up was on point.

Her long hair fluttering behind her, Meilyn arrived at an unused lecture hall. That's where Simon said they'd meet.

The door was slightly open.

'Hm?'

When Meilyn peeked through the crack, she saw Simon's figure.

He was sleeping slumped forward at a desk, the sunlight beaming in from the window and a gentle breeze blowing across his face.

A light snore escaped his mouth with every breath, which was rather unusual for him.

She slid the door open quietly and stepped into the lecture room.

Simon had turned his face to the side and was sleeping on his arm., his jaw and neck sticking out to the side.

'He's sleeping so soundly.'

Sleeping with his mouth slightly open, Simon didn't look like his usual adult-like self. He just looked like a neighboring kid.

Meilyn got the urge to jab her finger into his cheeks to wake him up, but he was sleeping so soundly that she resisted the temptation.

Instead, she dragged a chair over and sat down in front of him.

'Hm.'

It was quite windy today.

Simon's navy blue hair rippled in the breeze like a surging wave, and the way it changed color as it caught the light made it almost look like it was glowing.

Meilyn's face blushed slightly as she watched his blank face.

'Don't I seem a little bit like a pervert?'

Just in case, she reached out and waved her hand in front of Simon's face.

He showed no sign of waking up.

'Haaah.'

To be just sleeping inside a lecture room after planning to meet with someone… He hasn't got a speck of romance after all.

Meilyn thought it was better this way. She crossed her legs, folded her arms, and stuck her head out, ready to observe him.

Because normally, she was too shy and embarrassed to look him in the eye at close range.

'…'

Looking at him like this…

Meilyn thought of Pion.

She thought of the man who saved her life in Death Land. He was an intimidating, fearsome, and very huge person.

But when she faced her again in the Khelso village in the neutral area, she realized that he was a bit thinner than she had imagined.

Yes, just like Simon right now.

'I'm certain that Pion's jet-black was also slightly dark blue.'

Her heartbeat and breathing quickened. She clasped her hands together to form a mask and held it in front of Simon's mouth.

'Huh, when I look at him this way, he does look similar to…'

While she was reaching forward to hold her hands right in front of his face…

His sleeping eyes opened.

"Wah! Waahh!! Gahhhh!!!"

Meilyn was flabbergasted, shaking violently. Her face turned red up to her earlobes.

"?"

Simon blinked innocently, unaware of what was happening, then smiled.

"It's you, Meilyn. I dozed off."

"Ugh you little— You scared me!!"

She shouted, clasping her hands together over her chest.

Her heart was racing, beating insanely fast. She knew she was the one at fault, but she ended up being the one to raise her voice.

"I'm sorry."

And as usual, Simon pampered her with a smile.

"…Hmph."

Meilyn dragged her chair back and quickly made some distance between her and Simon, then fanned her sweating face with her hand.

"S-So, why did you call me?"

Coyly asked Meilyn with her head turned away, but she moved her eyes to glance at Simon.

He answered,

"I wanted to ask you something."

'Eh?! Why do those words sound so meaningful…? Well, I'm pretty sure that wouldn't be it, considering his personality…'

"Actually, I'm stuck with a problem to do with a jet-black elemental magic circle, you see. I was just preparing a magic circle for Frost Bolt earlier."

'Yup, it wasn't. What were you expecting? You got fooled by yourself again.'

Meilyn only smiled, the corners of her mouth twitching.

"You see, when I tried changing the main circuit of the magic circle…"

Having no clue about how the person sitting across from him was feeling, Simon rambled on in excitement about the magic circle. Meilyn's smile slowly shifted to a slight scowl.

"…And so it starts malfunctioning in the basic formula. Did you understand it up to this point?"

Meilyn sighed a little, and rested her chin on her hand.

"That's a problem with the circuit resistance."

"Hm? I thought there was no problem with the circuit, though.

"Nah, you dumbass! Listen to me!"

Before they knew it, they rushed to the blackboard, writing formulas and arguing.

"You shouldn't apply that there!"

Meilyn furiously corrected one of Simon's formulas. As Meilyn frantically scribbled down the ones she had studied night after night, she let out a small laugh.

'I'm a necromancer after all.'

She could tell from the very fact that she jumped to a blackboard upon getting riled up by someone doing something so blatantly wrong.

"What's the matter?"

"N-Nothing. Just watch, because I'll prove it to you!"

After 20 minutes of debate, Meilyn was the winner. Simon, realizing his error, finally had some other hfint toward progress.

Well, it was to be expected. In terms of grades, she was second highest in the entire school, and jet-black mechanics and the jet-black elements were Meilyn's specialities.

There was such a huge gap between her and Simon that he felt ashamed to have even questioned her.

Meilyn said while smiling in satisfaction at getting one over Simon,

"But what's with you talking about jet-black elements all of a sudden? You've been doing well with summoning and other stuff. Are you trying to find another medium for attack?"

"No, I was in the process of making a skeleton mage."

"Hm?"

Meilyn looked puzzled.

"What nonsense are you talking about? We'll be taught to create a skeleton mage tomorrow. Why are you making one by yourself?"

"Uh, it's just something like… advance study."

"Oh wow, you really decided to buy one and go through the trouble."

Meilyn shook her head and put her hands on her hips.

"Anyway, treat me to a meal since I helped you, alright? I'm hungry after all that thinking.'

"Sure, let's head out."

* * *

The next class was Professor Eric Aura's Mechanics of Jet-Black.

Mechanics of Jet-Black was the foundation of dark magic.

Even the professors of other subjects would ask their students what they had been taught in Mechanics and then adjust the lessons accordingly.

This is because the formula and runes the students knew depended on their progress in this class.

"Did you not learn this in Mechanics of Jet-Black?"

This was one of the most common questions professors asked students during class.

And while students who use jet-black elemental magic, like Meilyn, could choose to major in this subject later on, jet-black mechanics was a compulsory subject. So, professors in it didn't have direct disciples.

"And that's it for today's class."

The middle-aged man who taught this important subject, Professor Eric Aura, had been nicknamed Professor Eric Bore-a.

He was known for being extremely formal and not bringing in his own 'color' to the lectures, though he was competent and skilled. He was also a strict theorist.

His straightforward lectures focused on delivering the knowledge that was considered a bit bland.

The students were used to star professors such as Bahil, known for his flamboyant showmanship, and Hong Feng, who engaged her students with exciting activities.

But this class was strictly theoretical, not practical.

A subject that required you to spend all day looking at magic circles, runes, and formulas. Many complained of headaches after their classes.

However, all students recognized the importance of this subject. If you paid good attention here, you would find yourself inevitably using the formulas you learn in other classes.

It was a subject that couldn't be taken lightly.

"Thank you for your hard work!"

The class ended, and the students quickly left the lecture room.

As Eric was cleaning up, a student came up to him.

"Yes, do you have any ques—?"

Eric turned to see which student it was, and was a little surprised.

He would usually see the faces come to him with questions about jet-black mechanics, but this one was a little unusual.

"This is the first time you've come to me, Simon Polentia."

——