Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 256
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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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Summoning Genius of the Necromancer School — Chapter 256
The moment he stepped inside, Simon realized that everything he’d seen before paled in comparison.
This was the Monster Market—realm exclusive to Necromancers.
The stalls were lined entirely with monster corpses, hundreds of them stretching in every direction.
Fresh kills, some still weeping blood from harpoon wounds, lay scattered across floors turned crimson as a slaughterhouse. Some hung upside down; others had their jaws bound shut with cord.
A paradise of gore and cruelty.
Unlike ordinary markets, there were no hawking merchants calling out to passersby—only workers in overalls moving methodically through their grim labor.
Every customer was a Necromancer. Simon watched an old woman sweep monster organs into a cloth bag she’d brought, then depart with a satisfied expression.
“The Undead materials you see in Necromancer shops are all processed—cleaned up, presentable. Here, you get raw stock. Nothing refined.”
Benya walked briskly as she explained, gesturing at the displays.
“I’ll admit this place divides opinion even among Necromancers, but you can find hidden treasures here. Especially those Aquatic Undead you need—they fall into the ‘Special’ category. Buying them from a regular shop would cost you dearly. Here, you’ll pay a tenth of retail.”
Simon looked at her with genuine admiration.
“You really are an expert, aren’t you?”
“I’m still just a student, truth be told. I just happen to take a deeper interest in this field than most. Oh—let’s head over there next.”
With each step, his shoes stuck slightly in the congealed blood pooling across the floor. Monster corpses, scourges upon mankind, and yet—viscerally, instinctively, the sight turned his stomach.
“When you become a professional Necromancer, do you end up coming to places like this often?”
“Not really.”
Benya shook her head.
“People love eating meat, but few want to watch the slaughter. Necromancers are the same. Most prefer to keep things neat and sterile. We’re here beating the pavement for materials—this is just a stop along the way.”
She shrugged, then added with a slight smile,
“Still, visiting a place like this now and then? It’s an education in world-craft, I’d say.”
“I… suppose you’re right.”
Simon decided to approach the market as she suggested—as a scholar of new cultures.
Viewing his surroundings through this lens of curiosity, he began to notice details he’d overlooked before.
“Do you know how the Undead flowing through this market get classified?”
Benya continued her tour-guide narration, layering in detail after detail.
“Not at all, I’m afraid.”
According to Benya, specimens capable of becoming Special Undead were transported via boat or cart with multiple Preservation Magic Circles slathered across them.
Undead destined to become Zombies or Ghouls underwent a controlled decay process in dedicated warehouses.
Future Skeletons had their flesh stripped immediately on the market floor, their bones harvested fresh. Byproducts were sold off—used in Necromancer research, as catalysts for Dark Magic, or as components for artifacts.
Common livestock and beasts could be raised as Undead, but they were weak. Most Undead came from monsters.
Monsters were absolute evil, scourges upon humanity, and they remained unconquered by mankind to this day.
This was why regional lords encouraged Necromancer cultivation. The more Necromancers in a territory, the fewer monsters would plague it.
‘She’s right—this really is educational.’
Still, visiting this place required a certain cultural flexibility that Simon found himself lacking.
Rette, or those from the Sacred Federation—they’d recoil in horror at the sight.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
A vendor crossed two butcher’s cleavers, creating a sharp signal. Wizened Necromancers immediately crowded around him.
“Now showing, one o’clock! Commencing Cyclops dissection!”
The vendor plunged his blade into the monster’s abdomen and drew it down in one clean stroke.
The belly split open like paper, releasing a plume of scalding steam that rose in a thick, cloudy column.
“Ohhh!”
The Necromancers watching wore expressions of childlike wonder, as if opening presents on Christmas morning.
They rushed forward, claiming the parts they needed. Blood dripped from their hands, yet their eyes shone with excitement as they scooped organs into cloth bags. Once they’d retrieved what they wanted, they weighed their purchases, paid, and departed satisfied with their haul.
“That all becomes Potion ingredients, Chimera components, Blood Magic supplies, toxins—you name it.”
Benya elaborated.
“Normally these require specialized processing, but some of them prefer DIY methods, apparently.”
Though Necromancy itself had a long history, Necromancer shops and Undead factories were relatively new inventions.
Older practitioners still didn’t trust mass production—they preferred to craft their own materials.
Taking in sights he’d never witnessed before, Simon turned his head constantly, absorbing every detail.
“So, shall we begin the real search now? You remember what I told you to look for, right?”
“Yes.”
Polloran. Ulfes. Rhoedoketus. Gamban.
Aquatic monsters capable of being skeletonized.
The two moved methodically through the stalls, examining each display with care.
“Oh, look there!”
A skeleton of a whale-like creature, easily over six meters long, lay on display.
Teeth jutted from its jaw in jagged rows, and running from its skull down through its spine to its tail fluke was an elegant chain of vertebrae that evoked the image of a train.
“That’s Polloran. A Danger Rank 5 monster.”
“…If you met that thing in the Sea, you wouldn’t stand a chance.”
The two of them approached and examined the wares. This appeared to be a skeleton-exclusive shop, with most of the display consisting of bones.
Just then, a man wearing a metal mask—apparently the shop’s proprietor—stepped forward with an expressionless face.
“Today’s stock is in excellent condition. Defatted, bleached, dried—all done. The skeletal structure is also superior.”
Benya knelt down and examined the bones methodically.
“Mm. You’ve really maintained them well.”
“I’m a professional. Of course I have.”
As she ran her fingertips slowly down the vertebrae, she paused.
“The 174th bone is missing?”
The previously expressionless man flinched visibly for the first time.
“It looks like you made a mistake when removing the organs from the bones. More than that, the 207th is also gone. Without it, if you connect the 206th and 208th directly to use as undead, the most critical fin movements will become stiff and rigid.”
She winked at the man.
“You’ve been caught red-handed.”
“…I’ll give it to you for half price.”
“I wouldn’t buy it even for 30% off~”
She waved her hand dismissively.
“You can ignore this if you like, but Deimos bones and organs cling tightly together, so it’s difficult to remove only the organs with a blade. Damage to the bone is inevitable. What you should do instead is dig a deep pit, bury the Deimos in the ground, and use the Decay spell. After about two days of burying it, the muscle and organ tissue will decompose, and you’ll be left with clean bones.”
“…!”
The man’s face registered genuine surprise as he studied Benya.
Upon realizing she was quite young, he spoke.
“You’re from Kizen.”
“That’s right.”
“The elites truly are different. Thank you for the advice. I’ll keep it in mind.”
“Yes, take care now.”
Benya led Simon away to explore elsewhere.
“?”
As she turned her head, Simon was gazing at her with sparkling, admiring eyes.
“Ha ha! What is it? Don’t make me self-conscious.”
Simon couldn’t help but think that Benya was in an entirely different class from Andre—truly a second-year student worthy of respect.
Never had the barrier of seniority felt so insurmountably high.
“If I study Summoning Magic more, could I eventually become like you?”
“There’s no need for you to become like me.”
She shook her head.
“Undead craftsmanship involves so much material to master that it’ll be difficult to conquer it all. I do this because I’ve been watching it my whole life and genuinely enjoy this kind of work, but you don’t need to memorize every little detail like this. What you should focus on is how to fight enemies with undead and win. And.”
She smirked and pointed to herself with her thumb.
“Leave the tedious stuff to ‘us.'”
Simon was impressed.
This was exactly the kind of important connection one had to cultivate for a life as a necromancer.
He felt fortunate to have met her at school rather than out in society.
“Should we continue conquering the Monster Market then?”
“Yes!”
* * *
At the same moment.
Chaos erupted in the Ballot harbor, where countless ships were crowded together.
“Alright, on the count of three—move it!”
“Yes, sir!”
“One, two, three!”
Twenty laborers had been mobilized. They were using specialized unloading magical equipment to offload something from the vessel.
Thud!
As the object finally descended from the ship, laid across wooden planks, the crowd surged forward.
“Good heavens, what is that?”
“A Deathly Whale calf.”
“A Deathly Whale?”
What had come down with the wooden planks was a dead baby whale.
Its precise designation was Deimos—the only monster from which one could create the Special Undead known as the Deathly Whale.
A fully mature Deimos was a catastrophically dangerous monster of rank 8, bearing the epithet “Master of the Sea.”
“The ship has wounds. It must have been attacked by other monsters.”
“It’s a shame it’s only a juvenile.”
“Of course! If it were fully grown, we wouldn’t have brought it here alive!”
A small juvenile Deimos, five meters long.
It was far smaller than a fully grown specimen, but rare enough that one might be caught once every ten years at best. As for adults, hardly a handful had ever been captured by mankind in all of history.
“Now then, everyone step back. Don’t touch it, please.”
A man who appeared to be the Captain of the ship that had caught the whale jumped down from the deck and ushered the crowd away.
“The auction will begin at the Monster Market in two hours, so you can get a proper look at it then!”
The Captain was about to gesture orders to his crew to hurry the transport when—
“Pardon my intrusion.”
A Mysterious Man in a hooded robe strode forward with deliberate steps. He addressed the Captain.
“Are you the one in charge?”
“I am.”
“I’d like to purchase that specimen.”
The Captain’s brow furrowed.
“Didn’t you hear what I just said? It’s going to auction.”
“I wish to purchase it right now.”
“This fellow doesn’t seem to understand a thing.”
“I’ll meet any price you name.”
“Well, I… hah—”
The Captain stopped short.
The moment he caught sight of two ominous, luminous eyes gleaming from the darkness within the robe, he felt his spine go cold without meaning to.
‘The way he’s wearing that robe so suspiciously, the way he carries himself… he’s no ordinary man.’
Unwilling to provoke trouble unnecessarily, the Captain raised a finger.
“Hmm, let’s say this much.”
He quoted double the price he’d originally been thinking of.
“If you understand the price, surely you’ll just—”
“I’ll give you twice that. Payment now.”
The man produced a chest of gold coins from his Subspace and set it down before the Captain.
‘This madman… how rich can one person be?’
The Captain’s hands trembled as he began counting the coins.
Four times the amount he’d been thinking of. It was such a sum that even if the auction went spectacularly, he could never hope to see its like.
“V-very well! Yes! Let’s do this! No backing out later, mind you!”
The transaction was complete. The man who’d made the purchase approached the corpse of Deimos.
“Even if your Subspace is large, this won’t fit inside, will it? How do you intend to transport it?”
“I’ll take only what I need. You’re welcome to keep the remainder.”
The man formed a Magic Circle in the palm of his hand and placed it upon Deimos’s body.
* * *
‘Mmm, it’s proving difficult to find a Summoned creature that suits our needs.’
Simon and Benya continued to wander through the market, but problems abounded.
The Aquatic Undead they were searching for—Poloran, Ulfes, Rhodocetus, Gamban, and others capable of becoming Skeletons—all had bones that were sought-after materials for Dark Magic.
Since the bones needed to remain intact to craft a Skeleton, most of the crucial bone parts had already been purchased by other Necromancers and taken away.
Whatever remained intact often had problems with its condition, much like the ones they’d seen earlier.
‘It’s rare to find anything that fits all the criteria perfectly.’
Simon was beginning to wonder if they should explore other options when—
A murmur rippled through the crowd.
A group of people had gathered together. Simon and Benya naturally drifted toward them as well.
“It’s a Deathly Whale!”
Benya gasped in surprise, examining the monster corpse laid upon the log.
“This is incredible! Incredible! This is the first time I’ve ever seen one at market!”
“What is it?”
“It’s the only specimen capable of producing a highest-tier Undead—a Deathly Whale! It’s a Danger Rank 8 monster, and they also call it the Master of the Sea.”
“A… a Deathly Whale?”
Simon blinked, gazing at the corpse of the dead whale, a creature five meters in length.
“For a Deathly Whale, this one seems rather small.”
Simon was naturally thinking of the Deathly Whale he’d ridden when entering Kizen.
“That’s because it’s still young, not fully grown. But…”
There was a hole punched through the chest cavity.
It appeared another Necromancer had already purchased and removed the heart and its attendant organs—the most crucial and valuable components.
“As it is, we couldn’t even craft a smaller Deathly Whale from this.”
“…I see.”
The other customers, noting that it was Deathly Whale material, glanced at it briefly before moving on. With the Undead now impossible to create and only surface byproducts remaining, its value had plummeted.
“Very well, we’ll begin the auction in ten minutes.”
The auctioneer was building momentum with her words when Simon caught her eye.
“Senior.”
“What?”
“Don’t buy that husk of Deimos and turn it into a Deathly Whale.”
He continued seriously.
“What if we made it into a Skeleton instead and tested it out?”
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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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