Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

Chapter 221

"Gueeeeeeeeeh!"

"Gurrrgh!"

Simon finally understood what was going on with the vomiting back in the restaurant.

It was happening to the Class A students as well.

The people who had vomited in the restaurant were probably students who took Belya's morning class.

"Stop exaggerating and eat! Humans don't die that easily, you bastards!"

Belya was roaming around the lecture room furiously.

Here's what happened.

Belya had announced the activity, and the assistant teachers placed a case in front of each student. Inside were colorful, clay-like blocks.

"Are we going to play with the clay?"

"Is this a raw material for poison?"

"I've never seen this before."

"It's so interesting."

The students reacted with curiosity and were about to light their cauldrons until Belya declared,

"Now, eat them!"

The bricks were supposed to be eaten.

Inside the cases were two contrasting ingredients. One was a real poison, and the other was a drug that stimulated the immune system to create specific antibodies.

The students had to take the antibody drug at the assistant teachers' worried requests—if you ate the poison first, you'd actually die—and only then swallow the real poison.

Everyone was nervous and hesitant, but a Kizen professor's orders were absolute. The students carefully swallowed the drug first.

Perhaps the drug itself was already quite toxic. Many students had spots form all over their bodies, and even more fell into fevers or started vomiting.

After five minutes, when it was judged that the drug had sufficiently taken effect, they immediately had to swallow the poison.

"P-Professor! Is this really a class?"

"Are you sure we're not going to die?"

Pleaded the squeamish students, their faces pale.

Belya smiled, flashing her triangular teeth.

"Do you think a fucking professor would poison their student? None of the brats who ate these before died, so go ahead and gobble them up."

Overwhelmed by Belya's unquestionable gaze, the students reluctantly swallowed the poison.

Simon was no different. The moment the poison entered his throat, his digestive system freaked out and he tried to vomit it all back up.

It was as if all his organs were screaming in unison.

"I'll stomp anyone who spits their poison out or vomits intentionally."

Seeing the hesitant students, Belya came down from the stage and walked around the room.

Simon screwed his eyes shut and swallowed the bit of poison in his mouth.

"…!"

His organs started to spasm. Simon broke out in hives and strange patterns of rashes spread across his skin as the poison and antibodies fought.

"Wh-What is this?!!"

"M-My… breath…! Cough, cough!"

Everyone was going crazy.

Meilyn just fell on her desk, and Camibarez' body was quivering from just having the poison in her mouth, leaving her unable to swallow.

Rick was chuckling like a madman and muttering his siblings' names as if he was telling them his final words.

That brings us back to the present.

"Stop exaggerating and eat! Humans don't die that easily, you bastards! This is a process for building antibodies in your bodies."

Said Belya.

"If you can master the poisons that are provided in my class, you'll be able to handle most poisons. This really is the basics of the basics."

She put a hand on her waist as she explained,

"One of my biggest pet peeves is that so-called necromancers are afraid of poisons. Even if it's already in a vial, their fingers tremble out of fear. It's pathetic when I see people enacting chemical warfare on their enemies, yet wearing hazmat suits, using chemical cartridges, drinking antibiotics, and doing all~ sorts of bullshit. I wish I could tell them to give up on using poison."

Her voice went from instructive to stern.

"If you're going to use poison, then at least get used to it!"

As the students slumped in their seats and vomited, she continued with the lesson for Poisonous Alchemy.

The class eventually reached halfway.

Eating one set of poison and drugs wasn't the end of it. They had to use a purifying agent to cleanse their bodies of any residual poison and eat the next batch.

There were three batches in total. Once the students had finished, they took a short break before going to a regular class about the textbook taught by an assistant teacher.

However, students who struggled to process any of the three poisons had to stay back with Belya until they finished or the class ended.

"…Professor, I really question the value of learning this."

Eventually, a complaint arose.

Claudia Menzies, the class's Poisonous Alchemy ace, protested on behalf of everyone.

"I question the very existence of a class that involves getting used to poison by eating it. We're here to learn the great Poisonous Alchemy of Kizen, not this barbarism."

As befitting a high-ranking noble who had nothing to fear, she even called it barbaric.

A few students timidly nodded their heads in agreement. The assistant teachers looked at Belya's face in horror, but she gestured for Claudia to continue.

"Th-That… and I question the purpose of the class!"

Claudia looked nervous, but she continued to protest.

"Our main enemy is the priests. You're supposed to teach us how to beat priests with Poisonous Alchemy. I don't understand the use of adapting our bodies to poisons."

"Hey."

Belya smirked.

"Was your name Claudia? You're the kid the assistant teachers praised as the best in Class A. Alright, let me ask you a question. Do you think you're better than Kizen's Professor of Poisonous Alchemy?"

"N-No."

'Is she trying to stamp me with her authority?'

Claudia was a little disappointed, but she didn't show it and bowed her head.

"No, not me, you dumbass! I'm talking about Professor Lang Strauss, the former Professor of Poisonous Alchemy. Can you guarantee that you'll be as damn good as him when you grow up?"

Although he had been caught up in strange incidents in his later years, Professor Lang Strauss was a legend in his field, having established many of the frameworks of Poisonous Alchemy in his peak, and continuing to advance the field's development for over two decades.

Claudia quickly raised her head at the question, denying the question with all her might.

"N-Not at all! I can't even come close to him…"

"Even the great man that every poisonous alchemist was brown nosing…"josei

Belya clicked her tongue.

"He died from a priest's poison. Have you already forgotten?"

In an instant, the entire lecture room became silent.

It was a vulnerable topic that everyone avoided mentioning. The students who were listening desperately turned away to pretend they hadn't anything, and the assistant teachers turned pale.

"In a way, I kind of understand why the Witch of Death put me in this seat over all the other smart bastards. She must've felt skeptical about their ability to survive. Anything else you want to say?"

Claudia bowed her head with a terribly grim face.

"…Not at all."

"Then gobble it the fuck up. One more whine from you, and I'll actually kick you out."

She turned away and resumed the class. Everyone was now silent and focused on swallowing their poisons.

* * *

* * *

After only halfway through the class, some students who had swallowed all three poisons started standing up to get to the textbook lecture.

"Wow, I actually saw my dead grandfather waving at me."

The fastest finisher in Group 7 was Rick. He managed to swallow all three poisons and stagger to the next room where the theory class was taking place.

And Simon, the icon of talent who outperformed everyone without any prior learning…

…was facing the torment of death. Simon had no talent for enduring poisons. Of course, there was no such talent. It was a matter of physical constitution.

"Hey, you alright?"

Belya walked up to Simon's side and smiled. He looked up, his face yellow with puss.

"I-I'm fine."

"That's the last of the poison. Finish it already and go read your favorite textbooks."

"Understood… By the way, I have one question."

Said Simon, his voice faint as his body worked overtime to process the poisons.

"These poisons and antibiotics… How are they made? They don't look like anything on the market."

Simon could ask such a question because he'd been watching her eccentric behavior and figured she wouldn't be insulted.

She paused momentarily as if the question was also a surprise to her. Then, she burst into laughter.

"To explain that…"

Clicking her tongue, she untied the straps on her shoulders, exposing a bit of bare skin on her arms. She ran her finger over the skin and smirked again.

"It's about three years too early. But do you want me to tell you?"

"…I'm sorry. Please don't tell me."

Said Simon, and he swallowed his third dose of poison. Belya ruffled Simon's hair with a giggle and walked away.

'Ugh.'

The effects of the poison took place, and he began to fade into unconsciousness.

"Y-You alright, Simon?"

Croaked Cami from two seats away. She had just cleared her second poison.

As his consciousness faded, Simon replied,

"Cami, win for me…"

For a few moments, Simon was in a daze. Nothing he thought made sense.

'Who am I? Where am I?

Mom's homemade tomato omelet is delicious.

If I had to teach a monkey a language before humanity went extinct, what should I teach it?

Ah, damn, the poison tastes like dead skin.

I heard that one of the legs of an octopus is its genitals. Is that also true for my Overlord?'

"…"

As his consciousness slowly faded, a strange sensation jolted him awake. He was aware of his surroundings, but his entire body was numb. His head felt slightly clearer and like it was becoming lighter.

He felt like he was going to do alright.

For a moment, Simon swam in a sea of imagination, until…

"Simon! Simon!"

Camibarez shook Simon violently until he wearily blinked his eyes open.

"Oh, that's a relief! Are you alright?"

She asked, face pale not from the poison but from concern.

"…How long have I been like this?"

"Around a minute, maybe?"

Swallowing the third dose of poison somehow made him feel better. His whole body also felt lighter. Simon stretched his shoulders.

Then he heard an assistant teacher shout,

"Students who have processed the third poison, please move quickly to the next lecture room!"

"Ah, right."

Simon nodded, then looked at Camibarez with pity.

"Don't push yourself too much."

"Alright! I'll be right there!"

Said Camibarez, trying to sound cheerful. Simon nodded and headed to the next lecture room.

"Now, take a look at the next page."

In the lecture room, an assistant teacher was diligently moving through the textbook.

"Have you ever heard of two-part poisons? Some substances pose no threat to the human body by themselves, but when two of them meet, they pose a great threat. In Poisonous Alchemy, this effect is called— Ah, good work. Please go and take a seat."

"Thank you, excuse me."

It was a very normal Poisonous Alchemy class. Originally, Belya had planned to change the whole class to her style, but Jane pressured her to at least go through the textbook.

Simon sat down next to Meilyn and asked,

"You alright?'

"…"

She was wearing a plastic bag over her head with two eye holes that she seemed to have punched out.

"What is that?"

As Simon reached for the plastic bag, she immediately leaned back.

"Don't look at my face!"

"?"

Hissed Meilyn as she pulled the plastic bag down on her head.

"…I've got rashes all over my face. It's ugly."

Simon giggled and pointed to his own face.

"I look pretty bad as well, though."

"Oh, shut up! I don't want you to see it!"

She defended, holding on to the plastic bag as if her life depended on it.

——