Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

Chapter 231

Simon walked into Bahil's lab.

'…Wow.'

While the other professors' labs were cluttered messes, Bahil's was neat and organized to the point where he had to be a clean freak to maintain it to such a degree of perfection.

The decor was simple, with black and white furniture, vibrant flower beds, and expensive wall paintings. The entire room was also filled with the warm aroma of good coffee.

On the farthest wall was a giant chalkboard, covered with the faint outlines of countless scribbles erased and drawn over time and time again by Bahil.

"Please have a seat."

"Ah, thank you, professor."

As Simon sat down on the sofa, Bahil immediately brought him a coffee.

The coffee was a bit cold, probably having been made a while ago. Simon set it aside for now.

Click.

But the moment he put the cup on the saucer, it started bubbling and became hot again.

Simon looked at it interestingly.

"I think I've said something of this ilk before…"

Bahil sat across from Simon, crossing his legs and placing his hat on the dark oak table in front of him.

"It's unfortunate that there is this prejudiced belief that curses only bring harm. The truth is, there are very few magic circles used to make our lives easier that don't involve a curse formula."

Nodding silently, Simon picked up his teacup and took a sip of the coffee.

It was warm, sweet, and somehow pleasant. He thought Bahil would enjoy a bittersweet brew, but it was deliberately made to appeal to a child's taste buds.

"Well, since class ends soon, let's get right to it."

Bahil opened a bookshelf-shaped subspace in the air. Then, he pulled a very thin book from it, placed it on the table, and pushed it toward Simon.

Taking the book, Simon opened it to the first page. It contained the components of a curse magic circle.

"Professor, this is…?"

"This is a set of curses I developed just for you."

Said Bahil in a cheerful voice.

"You won't find them in any other books. They're one-of-a-kind curses."

Simon looked at Bahil, puzzlement preceding his joy.

"Why would you give me something like this…?"

"Isn't it the nature of an educator to want to teach when there's a brilliant student? Let's just call it the attachment of a teacher."

Simon snapped the book closed in surprise.

"P-Professor Bahil! This is too much for me. I'm not even your—!"

"Ahh~ There is no need to say any more."

Bahil showed his palms like a magician revealing there are no tricks up their sleeves and smiled.

"I don't have any ulterior motives. If it's the S.A.1, professors would be dying to leave their mark on the prodigy. You're a student, so your job is to learn whatever you can. If teachers wish to help you learn more, you just need to learn to accept it."

Simon looked at the book, poorly hiding his excited grin.

He knew Bahil wasn't the type to bluff. If he said these formulas were one-of-a-kind, he was telling the truth.

Flipping through the pages, he found four curses in the book. Oddly, the descriptions given for them were incredibly brief. There was almost no explanation of the formulas, and it wasn't clear what the curses would actually do.

"You might feel like it's under-explained…"

Said Bahil, sounding as if he knew.

"However, there are many reasons for that. The biggest is that I don't want to compromise your creativity, Simon."

Education requires learning. However, learning from a teacher inevitably leads to the student having to accept some details as basic truths, thus limiting them from looking beyond.

But that brilliant wit Simon used to modify his Exhaust… Bahil wanted to make sure Simon had the room to think about and reflect on every last detail.

"The second reason? I want you to have a good framework for studying curses."

"Ah…"

They say there is no such thing as 'free'. Mastering the four curses Bahil shared with him would require significant study.

"If you master all four curses in the book by the end of the semester, I shall give you a gift."

"A gift?"

"Yes."

Bahil drew four curse circles in the air, one after the other in a grid. In the center of the grid was an empty base circle.

'What is he trying to do?'

He then reached out and selected specific runes and formulas from the other four circles and transferred them to the central base.

As if the spell components were food at an all-you-can-eat buffet, he took the formulas he wanted to put on his empty plate, adding only a few new ones to the mix.

"It's a magic circle that can only be understood once you have mastered all four magic circles."

The truth was, the four curses in the book were simply a means of teaching Simon to master this one curse.

Clu-clank! Clu-clank!

Chugging like an engine, the magic circle in the center began to spin, emitting a brilliant light. All Simon could do was watch it in awe.

'How beautiful…'

The magic circle is an ecosystem. That sentence truly came to life when witnessing Bahil's creation.

Simon couldn't understand all the formulas and patterns, but he knew it was the most sophisticated circle he'd ever seen, and that made it beautiful.

"The name of this curse 'Compellonia'."

Said Bahil.

"It's a curse that can artificially bring the target to the state of 'compello'."

"Compello?"

"It means entering a realm of absolute truth, something that great necromancers are said to experience from time to time. You've experienced it a few times yourself, haven't you?"

Knowing he had caught Simon's interest, Bahil's grin spread from ear to ear.

"In every battle, or at every crucial moment, you have performed some great miracle without even knowing how, haven't you?"

A shiver ran down Simon's spine.

Of course he had.

Countless times.

When he turned an island rat man skeleton into a gray rat in his first class. When he wore Prince's crown and used Corpse Explosion without even knowing that spell existed. When he slashed the all-powerful Saintess of Purification despite being a lowly trainee necromancer. When he converted his zombies into divine zombies and used Celestial Explosion.

He had created miracle after miracle using that state.

'…I could make that happen at will?'

* * *

* * *

"Professor!"

After Simon left the lab, Chehekle—the chief assistant teacher—entered the lab. She had been anxiously waiting nearby.

"Nothing special happened, right? You didn't do something weird to a student again, did you?"

"Of course not. It went well."

Bahil smiled in contentment and gestured for her to leave the room with him.

As they walked out of the lab, Chehekle let out a deep sigh.

"I don't know if you really had to go this far."

"I understand your frustration at having my attention split between you and someone else, Chehekle."

"Please add that statement to the resignation letter I gave you before."

"Gee, you can't even take jokes."

Seeing Bahil uncharacteristically howl with laughter, Chehekle shook her head.

"I have a question, Professor."

"What is it?"

"Those were spells you've worked so hard to develop for Simon, but aren't you being strangely vague about them? I expected you to sit him down and spoon-feed him everything you knew about the curses."

Bahil smirked.

"Didn't I spend the entire first semester trying to get him to major in Curses and fail? I've learned a lot from my failures."

"Oh?"

"That's not how you tame Simon."

Chehekle narrowed her eyes, not liking his choice of words.

"What are you trying to say?"

"Well, I believe that there is nothing like seeing something for oneself."

Bahil and Chehekle placed recognition-hindering curses on themselves and entered the Kizen library. Afternoon classes were over, and many students were sitting at their desks studying.

It didn't take long for them to spot Simon.

Thud!

He set down his tower of curse books and studied the one he'd just received from Bahil in the center.

'He's liking it so much.'

Thought Chehekle while glancing over at Bahil.

His voice warped by the spell, Bahil stated,

"In summary, I realized that my desire to help Simon grow could be a burden to him."

"Woah, you finally realized that?"

"That's how you tame Simon. You don't spoon-feed him, but you motivate him so he finds the details for himself. Just look at him. At how dedicated he is to study the curse."josei

Chehekle shrugged.

"I'm glad to hear you've learned from your mistakes, but that's not the kind of curse a first-year student can learn on his own, is it?"

"Then he'd come to me. I told him he could come to me after class if he's stuck or wants to ask me anything."

"A supplementary class, huh? This feels like… Oh!"

Creases formed in Chehekle's brow.

"This is the Summoning Professor's—Aaron's—method, isn't it?"

Bahil flinched, but he regained his composure.

"I don't see why Professor Aaron is being mentioned here, Chehekle."

"I'm right! You're basing your style on Professor Aaron! No wonder you seem more understanding than usual."

"I don't have the foggiest what you're talking about."

Chehekle sighed, watching him act all innocent.

"Simon!"

Her interrogation of Bahil was brought to a halt as they heard someone calling for Simon.

The two of them looked in the direction of the noise. It was the boy who always stuck around next to Simon. Rick Hayward from Class A.

"Wow, you traitor! Were you studying alone again?"

Simon laughed bitterly.

"Just a little."

"It's the weekend tomorrow! Meilyn said we should go to Professor Hong Feng's vacation home."

"Oh, really? That's a must go."

Simon scrambled to his feet and grabbed his textbooks. Bahil could be seen trembling with anger as he looked down at Rick.

Chehekle pulled back his arm instinctively reaching forward as it surged with jet-black and shouted,

"Hey, are you crazy?! What's that spell?? You can't curse a student!!"

"It won't be a problem if I don't get caught."

"Ah, you absolute nutjob…!"

* * *

The weekend passed in the blink of an eye.

Simon spent every waking moment studying the new hemomancy techniques and Bahil's curse sets, and in his spare time, he traveled to Pier's ruins and practiced his control over the Legion.

Kizen also announced that the second round of 'BDMAT exams' would begin this week.

Students who thought they'd have at least another week were caught off guard, and they had to rush to prepare for the test.

Now, rumors had begun to spread.

The one that was whispered about the most was the 'kingdom-wide weapon buyout', but there were further rumors that Kizen was recruiting treasure hunters and trappers from all over the country.

Professors were also focusing on defense and exploration dark spells in their classes.

So, most students prepared for the exam with a 'dungeon exploration' theme in mind.

Students opened a study group to practice being treasure hunters and worked on disarming traps. Some savvy students even arranged for real treasure hunters to tutor them through communication crystal balls.

Everyone at Kizen was scrambling to survive.

"Too bad it's not the war of information I wanted."

Said Rick on the way to the restaurant.

For him, the information was given away too easily.

He justified,

"From Kizen's perspective, it's only fair for the test to be structured for the students to know enough and be prepared."

"Fair my ass."

Objected Meilyn, walking beside Simon.

"Since when did Kizen care so much about their students?"

Camibarez nodded in agreement.

"Wouldn't it be more Kizen-like to come out with a complete reversal of the theme from what everyone expected?"

"Now, now. Didn't Professor Aaron say at the opening ceremony that the theme could be a bit extreme? This means that even the best students Kizen has lined up could fall through the cracks, like when that Class B Necromancy ace, Rekon, failed the first test. Surely they want to avoid that."

"So you're saying there are too many variables."

As Simon chimed in, Rick nodded quickly.

"Exactly! Above all, the school's tests are more about motivating students than they are about assessing skills. And based on the information we have now, dungeon exploration and traps should be right!"

"So."

Simon gestured vaguely at Rick's outfit.

"What's with this mess?'

Rick wore a chunky golden necklace, subspace rings on all ten fingers as a form of fashion, and a colorful shirt from the latest designer on top of his school uniform.

"Mwahahaha!"

Rick laughed creepily.

"I did a little bit of spending, since I've been earning quite a sum recently!"

"From what? I thought your business wasn't off the ground yet."

"As soon as I heard the rumors about the test, I bought up all the treasure hunter books and sold them for a minimum of one gold each."

Meilyn and Camibarez immediately turned to him in anger.

"Hey! What's with that unreasonable price?!"

"Rick! A gold is too much!"

"It's not unreasonable, it's intelligent. Who am I to stop such keen customers? Some guys even sold theirs for three gold after buying it from me for one."

"Making money is good, but…"

Simon looked at Rick in worry.

"…you know it's all for nothing if you fail the test, right?'

"Ah."

Rick paused for a moment as if he hadn't thought that far ahead.

Meilyn clicked her tongue at Rick's patheticness.

However, their friendly banter was soon interrupted.

"Student Simon!"

Simon turned his head. A vaguely familiar Summoning assistant teacher was running toward him.

"Professor Aaron is looking for you!"

——