Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 23

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Necromancer School’s Summoning Prodigy: Episode 23
After finishing lunch, Class A students returned to the lecture hall for the second session of Elementary Black Magic.
“What? The results are already out?”
The moment they entered the classroom, chaos erupted. The test results for every student in Class A were posted brazenly across one wall.
“Wow! That was quick!”
“Move over!”
Boom-boom-boom!
The students barely had time to set down their bags before they bolted toward the bulletin board.
Not only their own scores but every student’s grades were laid bare for all to see.
“Ahhhhh! Curse Magic, eighty-five points!”
“Ugh, Hematology tanked my whole average.”
“Am I seriously thinking about switching majors?”
“Remember how I said I’d place fifth in Combat Magic? I wasn’t wrong!”
“You’re the worst with your false modesty. You were literally crying about bombing Curse Magic, and you scored eighty?”
The classroom was alive with the cacophony of a marketplace at full throttle.
Simon didn’t want to check his own grades, but he wasn’t fool enough to bury his head in the sand.
He opened his eyes wide and examined his results.
[Simon Polentia]
Curse Magic: 40
Dark Force Studies: 33
Summoning Magic: 76
Spirit Magic: 25
Hematology: 20
Toxicology: 20
Combat Magic: 43
Holy Defense Magic: 40
‘Well, what did I expect?’
He’d steeled himself, but the scores were still brutal.
The only consolation was Summoning Magic holding steady in the seventies—apparently those weekend study sessions had paid off.
“Simon! Simon! How’d you do on the test?”
Someone came rushing over. It was Dick, breathless.
“Seventy-six in Summoning Magic. Everything else is a wash.”
“What? Seventy-six?”
Dick slapped Simon’s shoulder.
“That’s solid! Honestly, for someone without prep work, that’s better than expected. Having one subject you’re good at beats out mediocre middle-of-the-road scores any day!”
“What about you?”
“My highest is Dark Force Studies with seventy-four, everything else hovers in the sixties and seventies. I’m looking at an average of seventy.”
Simon blinked.
“You’re a solid student.”
“Nah, I just studied enough not to get cut. That’s all.”
Dick’s expression sobered slightly as he shrugged.
“But here’s the thing—this is a development neither of us saw coming. All the students’ grades are public from the first hour.”
Dick’s original plan had been to claim the best group members quickly while everyone was still operating in the dark, lacking information about each other.
But now that everyone’s scores were exposed for all to see, the other students would have clear, concrete criteria for choosing their teammates.
“Um, excuse me, everyone!”
The students, drunk on grade-checking fervor, were beyond control. The female instructor floundered as she spoke.
“Please return to your seats! The professor will be here in a moment……!”
“Leave them be.”
Click.
The lecture hall door opened just then, and Jane entered.
Her arrival snuffed out the students’ chatter. Their eyes, however, couldn’t help but drift back toward the grade sheet.
“You have thirty minutes.”
Jane set her bag down on the desk as she spoke.
“Review your scores, then form groups of four. Unless something extraordinary comes up, these groups will stay intact for the entire semester.”
Every face in Class A went rigid.
Starting right now?
“From here on, Elementary Black Magic will be taught through Group-based Class. You’ll be assigned tasks that require all group members to pool their strength to solve. Individual scores and group scores will be calculated separately. Of course, even if you excel individually, if your team lacks coordination, points will be deducted.”
Jane let out a soft breath, adjusted her necktie, and the faintest smile played at her lips.
“So you’d better choose your teammates carefully, wouldn’t you?”
With those words, an emergency switch flipped on in every student’s mind.
“You have thirty minutes. Any students who haven’t formed a group by then will be assigned together in a separate one. Now, begin.”
The moment she finished speaking, voices erupted from the students like a dam bursting.
“Jasmine! Who is Jasmine?”
“That’s me.”
“Your Curse Magic score was high! Want to join us? We’ve got people aiming for Dark Force Studies and Spirit Magic!”
“Looking for three Curse-Dark-Summoning students! Sixty points or above!”
“Anyone have a top-tier Spirit Magic student we can recruit?”
The competition for group members grew fierce within moments. Simon and Dick exchanged nods and split up to work different angles.
‘First priority recruit Jamie—Dick will handle that himself.’
Simon set his sights on Claudia, second on his list.
Unfortunately, she was already deep in conversation with two other students, flushed with excitement. From the look of it, she’d already made her choice.
Rosenthal, third priority and a Curse Magic candidate, had taken charge as group leader and was actively recruiting.
Catherine, fourth priority and aiming for Hematology, was already being courted by Rosenthal himself.
Groups were forming one after another before anyone’s eyes.
‘This won’t work.’
Even Dick, pursuing Jamie, was struggling.
The students with strong test scores had effectively gained a kind of power. They wanted to form groups where they themselves were the center.
Especially since every group was desperately trying to fill the three core disciplines—Curse-Dark-Summoning—as top priority, Curse Magic candidates were disappearing fast.
This was a crisis. Without solid Curse Magic students, the weight disparity in grade points would leave a gaping hole.
‘Stay calm.’
Simon pushed down the anxiety crawling up his spine and analyzed the situation with clear eyes.
‘It’s still early. No group is complete yet at four members.’
‘This isn’t reconnaissance phase—there’s a time limit, so everyone’s desperate. They tend to combine quickly if someone has similar scores or a different specialization.’
‘Mid-tier students form groups rapidly, while the top tier is still watching from the sidelines.’
‘So what I can do here is…’
At last Simon fixed his target and moved.
Among the swirl of students talking and calling out, Simon walked forward without hesitation.
A few students tried to catch his attention, but he politely deflected them, saying he’d talk later.
His aim was singular.
‘There.’
Finally, Simon’s target came into focus.
Unlike the other students rushing about frantically, she seemed to exist in a different world entirely.
Arms crossed, legs crossed, she sat comfortably observing the chaos with serene detachment.
Other students around her kept stealing glances, but none dared approach.
With scores in the 60s and 70s, convincing her to join their group was near impossible.
Simon seized that moment of hesitation and pushed boldly forward until he stood before her.
“Meilin Villenne.”
Class A’s rank one.
Top of the entire entrance exam.
The only student with an average of ninety points or above across every subject on this latest test.
“I’d like you to join our group.”
Simon had aimed for the top from the start.
The students around him began to murmur, watching Simon with wide eyes.
“Hey, hey, Simon!”
Dick had pushed through the crowd, his mouth forming a silent “reckless.”
The reason Jamie had been first priority—not Meilin—was because Dick had concluded it was impossible to recruit her.
Simon raised a hand slightly, as if to say ‘leave it to me.’
“…How funny.”
Her eyes, like a frigid glacier, swept across Simon’s face.
“You think being a Special Admission student makes you something?”
Her voice cut like a winter wind.
“Special Admission is just connections in the end. I only trust what I see with my own eyes, hard numbers.”
Her stance was firm, defensive.
“And frankly, someone averaging thirty points like you doesn’t seem worth it.”
Reality struck coldly at his chest.
But Simon endured it in silence. The negotiation for the top had only just begun.
First, he cast bait.
“Your Summoning Magic is a bit weak. Eighty-five points.”
Her eyebrow twitched.
Summoning Magic was Meilin’s only subject in the eighties, and it was her sore spot.
But she didn’t flinch, launching a counterattack instead.
“Are you one to talk? No matter what, my Summoning Magic score is higher than yours.”
Of course he knew that. Simon drew in a deep breath.
“I’ll make you a promise.”
“……?”
“One month. I’ll surpass you in Summoning Magic within exactly one month.”
As murmurs rippled through the crowd, her pupils dilated sharply.
“Are you insane? That kind of bluff—anyone can say things like……!”
“If I don’t surpass you.”
Simon cut off her words and continued.
“I’ll leave Kizen.”
A shocking declaration from Special Admission holder number one. Gasps echoed from all around.
Until now, not a single Special Admission student in all of Kizen’s history had ever left the academy by their own choice.
Meilin let out a scoff as if she found it absurd, but the corners of her mouth trembled slightly.
“You really have lost it. If you don’t want to humiliate yourself, take it back now!”
“I only said I’d do what I’m capable of doing.”
Simon spoke with remarkable composure.
“…….”
Meilin’s teeth grazed her lower lip.
In an instant, Simon had seized the initiative, and the atmosphere had taken an odd turn.
‘Surpass me? How presumptuous, speaking without knowing your place.’
Her gaze drifted toward Hector, who stood among the students gathered to watch.
‘But…….’
Apart from this verbal sparring with Simon, she too had her own calculations.
Meilin had to maintain the top position in Class A for the entire first semester, no matter what.
The biggest obstacle to that was Hector. His test scores were good this time, and more importantly, he was the type who excelled in practical application over theory. If the upcoming Duel Evaluations and Performance Evaluations were reflected in the final grades, she might well lose her position at the top of Class A.
‘So I absolutely must dominate in the Group-based Class.’
One thing that troubled her was that Hector had scored 88 on the Summoning Magic test—strong in a subject where she needed an advantage.
Of all eight courses, it was the only one where Meilin trailed even on the written exam.
For that reason, she’d been planning to bolster her group with a Summoning Magic ace who could support her.
But Hector had moved faster than anyone else, securing Pierre Buckley—Class A’s only Summoning Magic ace with a score in the 90s.
Apart from Pierre, the rest of the Summoning Magic specialists were unremarkable.
Their scores didn’t differ significantly from hers.
Then.
‘……Simon Polentia.’
Without prior study, he’d outshone Hector in that first Summoning Magic class. Like many Class A students, Meilin had been left with a striking impression of that performance.
Meilin found herself at a crossroads.
Should she safely recruit another Summoning Magic student with a score in the 80s.
Or should she gamble on Simon, the wildcard who’d actually beaten Hector.
Viewed in that light, Simon’s declaration that he’d surpass Meilin wasn’t bravado or mere posturing.
It was an appeal aimed at the latter choice she was deliberating.
A declaration that seemed to pierce right through the workings of her mind.
“……Sigh.”
At last, after long deliberation.
Meilin uncrossed her legs and rose from her seat.
“You can really keep that promise?”
Simon smiled broadly and extended his hand.
“Without fail.”
She grasped his hand with a reluctant air.
It was the moment when Meilin—the top student of Class A and its only 90-point scorer—joined Simon’s group.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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