Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 433
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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 – Episode 433
Phantasus readily accepted Richard’s terms.
Fortunately, Phantasus said he had a week before the next expedition, and promised to teach Simon the Sleep Curse directly during that time.
And the very next afternoon.
Class began. Simon was climbing the mountain path alongside Phantasus.
‘I’m actually getting to learn Phantasus’s Original technique!’
Yesterday’s display by his father Richard had been somewhat embarrassing, but as a result, Simon could now learn the Sleep Curse from Phantasus, who was famous throughout Kizen as the strongest. It would be a lie to say he wasn’t anticipating this.
“This spot looks perfect! Yes!”
Phantasus said, glancing around.
“Excellent mountain this is! High mana concentration, trees growing thick and strong, and no lethal monsters about.”
“I’m glad it meets your approval.”
After a brief exchange, they moved straight into the lesson.
Phantasus only had a week to stay in Resshil. In truth, it was a tight schedule for learning his Original technique.
“From now on, the Dark Magic I’ll be teaching my junior here is Sleep.”
As he pointed his finger at something, something tumbled from a tree.
Looking closer, a squirrel lay there, snoring peacefully.
“As you know, it’s a Sleep Curse!”
The casting was blindingly fast.
Clean execution with no wasted motion.
Simon watched him with gleaming eyes. Phantasus burst into a hearty laugh and clapped his hands sharply together. Snap!
Suddenly!
The sleeping squirrel jolted awake and bolted away in alarm.
“If I may say so myself, I became Kizen’s strongest with this single Curse! Yes!”
Simon blinked.
“You weren’t an Anomaly user?”
“Ha! I hear that story plenty from others. But it’s all a misunderstanding! I’ve survived from beginning to end on this one Sleep Curse alone! Yes!”
In Kizen, Necromancers with Anomalies held an inherent advantage.
Lorain Arkbold.
Serne Eindarck.
Both of them centered their strength on their Anomalies. Of course, besides these Irregulars, other Anomaly users also performed well.
Simply possessing a weapon others lacked was already a plus factor, and most Anomaly users admitted to Kizen had abilities compatible with the Dark Element.
Strength as a Necromancer carried over into strength as an Anomaly user.
So certain cynics clicked their tongues, saying rankings were decided by innate Anomalies rather than effort, but Phantasus was the one who overturned such prejudice and presented an entirely new paradigm.
He had entered Kizen without foundational knowledge or prior study, and by grinding only Sleep-type Curses to their absolute limit, he had beaten down every single Anomaly user and reigned at the apex.
“For the next week, I’ll be passing my Original Sleep and all my know-how to my junior here!”
“Yes!”
Simon nodded vigorously.
“I’m already excited to see the 3rd years’ reactions! Yes! Those who looked down on you as a mere 2nd year, seeing the shock on their faces when you use my Sleep—ha ha ha ha!”
Though Richard’s pressure had forced him into teaching this Curse, Phantasus seemed to have his own reasons for accepting.
He laughed loudly, then crossed his arms and looked at Simon.
“Before we start, let me ask you a question! What do you think Original Dark Magic is?”
Simon answered immediately.
“Dark Magic that I developed myself!”
“Almost, but not quite! Different people define it differently, but the concept I, Phantasus, consider correct is ‘Dark Magic that only I can use!'”
He opened his palm for Simon to see.
“Now, first let me show you the Rune Language and formulas of my Sleep Curse.”
Simon focused his eyes intently.
‘At last, Kizen’s strongest main technique!’
Simon concentrated, determined not to miss a single formula as he absorbed it.
Whooosh!
But his resolve shattered in an instant.
Spread across Phantasus’s palm was a bizarre Magic Circle that transcended two dimensions into three.
“What the—!”
A wave of dizziness washed over him.
He couldn’t comprehend everything about this Magic Circle, but as a Necromancer, he couldn’t help but recoil in shock.
“Is… is such a state even possible?”
There were formula combinations that mocked conventional knowledge and incomprehensible formulas that shouldn’t exist in reality mixed throughout.
There was no way he could master this in just a week.
“Ha ha ha ha! Don’t lose heart too soon, junior! If you have questions, ask anything you like! Take your time examining it carefully as well.”
“……….”
Simon closed his eyes for a moment, drawing his concentration taut. As the vertigo subsided, he opened them again and examined the magical circle.
“Here, on the right circuit—why did you make it wind back and forth like a spring? Wouldn’t straight lines be more efficient?”
“Ah! That was from the first-year second-semester duel evaluation!”
Phantasus turned out to be quite the talker.
His story was long, but the gist of it seemed to be that during the duel evaluation, he’d had to pierce through his opponent’s Calculation Reduction Curse and use Sleep, which was how it ended up this way.
“Why is this formula over here left unfinished, like it was abandoned mid-creation?”
“Haha! That was a mistake! I tried to work with the Kona formula, but it didn’t go well, so I pivoted to another approach. Then I lost focus for a moment, and before I knew it, this formula had become a habit!”
“And what about this one?”
“This one I can’t tell without recounting my dispatch evaluation! I was preparing the magical circle when a monster attacked me. The beast raked its claws across my formula and charged past. But I just patched it up hastily and cast the spell anyway—and surprisingly, it actually worked well enough.”
The story was long, but one thing became clear.
This curse was a crystallization born from countless trials and errors, layered variables piled atop each other.
“Do you understand now?”
Phantasus spoke with sudden gravity.
“Why I said the original is ‘dark magic only I can cast.'”
“Yes. And the reason this magical circle is twisted in such a chaotic manner is…”
“It’s because of Darkness’s nature to remember!”
Darkness’s nature to remember was also the very essence of a Necromancer.
When you repeatedly use a magical circle constructed through specific Rune Language and formulas, Darkness remembers that process. Later, you need only recall the circle’s name and pay attention to the initial stage—the Rune Language and formulas complete themselves automatically.
Once this nature becomes fixed, it becomes quite difficult to revise later, which is why the Kizen Necromancer School principally forbids magical circle modification.
“The nature to remember is a double-edged sword!”
Phantasus dispelled that complex three-dimensional dark magic, then unfolded it once more.
Exactly as before.
The spiraling circuits coiled like springs, the unfinished formulas—all the inefficient, messy remnants remained intact.
“We Necromancers use this to enable faster casting, but in doing so, we leave behind these unnecessary traces.”
He clenched his fist and scattered the magical circle.
“But there’s no need to despair! Think of dark magic as the body of a battle-scarred warrior. It changes and evolves endlessly to meet each new situation and condition.”
“…Huh, that’s actually pretty romantic imagery.”
“Haha!”
Phantasus laughed heartily and turned his head.
“My successor will have something like this too, before long! Now then, shall we start with the fundamentals? Build up your technique step by step from the basics, apply variations, and make it your own.”
Phantasus closed his eyes and murmured something like an incantation, then opened his left hand.
The moment he did, a magical circle appeared.
“This is the most basic Sleep Curse you’ll learn in the second-year curriculum. And!”
This time he opened his right hand instead.
“This is it! My original Sleep Curse, which I’m proposing to you!”
Simon’s eyes widened as he examined both magical circles.
“Can you see the difference?”
“The textbook Sleep Curse uses the Rune of Sleep. And your curse, Phantasus…”
Simon’s eyes grew larger.
“…It’s just the Rune of Tranquility?”
“Precisely!”
Simon didn’t stop his analysis there.
“The Sleep Curse using the Rune of Sleep has a simple structure. All the formulas used focus on drawing out one hundred percent of the rune’s power.”
Simon’s gaze shifted rightward.
“But the one using the Rune of Tranquility is several times more complex in construction. That makes sense, of course—a calming effect alone can’t put someone to sleep. The auxiliary formulas are working hard to produce the sleep effect.”
“Mm! You’ve observed it with perfect accuracy!”
Phantasus nodded vigorously, his eyes clearly satisfied with the answer.
“Then here’s the question: why do you think I abandon the efficient Rune of Sleep and instead craft my Sleep Curse using the Rune of Tranquility?”
“…”
Simon rested his chin on his hand, sinking into deep thought.
Phantasus waited quietly, watching Simon wrestle with the problem.
“If you get this one right, you’ll score a thousand points out of a hundred.”
“Sleep directly triggered by curse effect is artificial. But…”
A brilliant light flickered in Simon’s eyes.
“The Rune of Tranquility creates an effect that’s identical to real sleep—that’s the difference, isn’t it?”
A storm of emotion crashed across Phantasus’s face. He clenched both fists and threw his head back.
“Perfect!!”
All the mountain birds in the vicinity startled and took flight toward the sky.
All of them scattered upward into the air.
“That’s exactly it! You’re truly my successor! The very makings of the next Kizen student council president!”
He grew intensely animated, spittle flying from his lips.
“Sleep! Sleep! What do you think sleep is! ‘A periodic recurring physiological state of unconsciousness’—that’s what it is!”
“…Yes, of course.”
“Humans spend roughly one-third of their lives in this physiological state of unconsciousness! From a curse scholar’s perspective, most living creatures essentially cast curses upon their own bodies to maintain their vital functions! Isn’t that fascinating? The Sleep Curse is precisely what requires this profound understanding and insight! In truth, humans are always waiting, hoping to fall under the curse of sleep.”
“Y-yes, that’s true.”
Simon smiled as if to calm him, but Phantasus’s explanation showed no signs of stopping.
“Of course, if you inscribe a curse using the Rune of Sleep, it would work faster! But there’s resistance to contend with, you see. Necromancers wrap themselves in Curse Resistance, and Priests possess Purification Magic! So we needn’t forcibly put our opponent to sleep at all! Humans are always well-prepared for it anyway, and we simply tickle that nerve, so to speak! Relaxing the muscles, stabilizing blood pressure, slowing the tempo of heartbeat and respiration—that sort of thing!”
He continued his explanation while demonstrating various deliberate movements.
“Sleep must differ in character from other curses! While other curses focus on savagely tearing into the opponent, Sleep’s performance depends on how comfortable and relaxed the target feels!”
A Sleep Curse that causes tossing and turning, strain, and shallow sleep is garbage.
A Sleep Curse that helps an enemy fall into deep, satisfying slumber—that was the true Sleep, according to Phantasus’s usual philosophy.
“Drive the opponent into such a satisfying deep sleep, rendering them completely defenseless.”
Phantasus made a gesture of drawing a blade across his throat.
“What happens next is the curse scholar’s affair, you understand.”
“That’s… terrifying.”
On the battlefield, sleep was death itself.
‘But it’s certainly a worthwhile lesson.’
Simon was satisfied. Perhaps it was because this was a lecture from someone who had dedicated themselves solely to Sleep, but both the practical knowledge and the conceptual framework were entirely different.
He felt this was the kind of instruction one could never learn in ordinary school classes—not even for money.
“You’ll start with this, then.”
Phantasus showed him a curse inscribed with the Rune of Tranquility and spoke.
“Memorize the magical circles, equations, and circuits in their entirety! When first learning, mindlessly hammering it into your head through pure memorization is the fastest way!”
“Yes, sir!”
This power—the force that had made Phantasus the strongest student council president of Kizen.
Simon vowed he would obtain it by any means.
“One hour should be enough for me.”
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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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