Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 476
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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 Summoning Genius of the Necromancer School — Episode 476
Assembling a Skeleton Knight proved far more demanding than Simon had anticipated.
There were so many details to manage. Unlike ordinary skeletons, where you could simply snap bones together like puzzle pieces, armor had to be factored into every decision.
Some parts were designed to be fitted with armor after assembly, while others came as single units with bones and metal already fused together from the factory. One misstep in sequencing could ruin everything.
‘Ugh, this is definitely trickier than I thought.’
He had to understand the armor’s structure and connection sequence before assembling the bones themselves.
Looking around the workshop, Simon noticed quite a few students with their hands raised, calling for assistance. The Summoning Studies instructors were rushing back and forth as if their lives depended on it.
“Don’t overthink it.”
Aaron’s voice came from nearby.
“Armor is ultimately just another component. Don’t get lost in the details—keep the whole picture in mind and piece it together step by step.”
Simon quickly completed both legs first. Stepping back to admire the finished segments, he couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction.
‘Not bad at all. So that’s what makes a Knight so appealing!’
Most necromancers think of skeletons as fragile undead that crumble at a touch, requiring endless maintenance. But covering those vulnerable joints in metal made them look incredibly sturdy.
Once his hands found their rhythm, Simon moved on to the torso, installing the chest armor as well. Now that he’d grasped the pattern, he worked without pause, fitting each piece into place with growing confidence.
‘This one slides into the groove, and this one connects with black thread.’
Watching Simon’s Skeleton Knight take shape, Toto let out an envious whistle.
“Amazing! You’ve done that much already?”
“Once I got the hang of it, it’s manageable.”
The initial confusion stemmed from his lack of knowledge about armor and metalwork, but once that conceptual barrier broke, everything flowed smoothly.
Now Simon’s workstation held a Skeleton Knight divided into upper and lower halves—a necessary compromise given the armor’s structure.
‘Last piece!’
Simon rolled up his sleeves.
‘If I connect this upper half to the lower half and cover it with armor…!’
Whoosh.
The armor was surprisingly heavy. As Simon grunted and lifted it, a pale hand appeared from the opposite side, steadying it.
“Let me help.”
“Thanks, Lorain!”
They positioned themselves on either side, firmly gripping the upper torso, then on the count of three slowly brought the two halves together.
Click.
The sound of a proper connection rang out. The black essence from both spinal columns met and fused, binding them into a single skeleton.
“Perfect, we’ve got it!”
The moment it was complete, Simon cried out in joy.
Then.
Creak-snap!
An ominous sound echoed through the workshop.
The Skeleton Knight swayed unsteadily, and with a sickening crack, its spine buckled forward in a deep bow toward Simon.
“??”
Simon and Lorain exchanged bewildered glances.
* * *
Simon immediately sought out Aaron for help.
Aaron examined the bent-backed Skeleton Knight carefully before finally speaking.
“The assembly itself seems flawless.”
“Then… what’s the problem?”
“It’s defective.”
Thump.
Simon’s heart sank.
“Even factory products have defects, and undead items like this aren’t rare exceptions. The junction between upper and lower halves is fine, but the bone above that was damaged from the start. Eventually it couldn’t support the armor’s weight and collapsed.”
“Ah…”
Simon exhaled a disappointed sigh.
‘Damn it, I should have bought the Vanilla Brand after all!’
He’d stopped at a necromancer shop in Langoustin before the freshman orientation, only to find their Vanilla Brand Skeleton Knight stock completely sold out.
The shopkeeper had recommended a Pastel Brand product—one tier lower in quality—and Simon had deliberated between buying the expensive version in Rochester or settling for the Pastel option here. In the end, he’d chosen the Pastel product.
“Don’t take it too hard. Any summoner encounters this regularly,” Aaron said, already turning toward another student in need.
“Contact the shop where you purchased it and initiate the refund process.”
“…Understood.”
Simon stared at the bent-spined Skeleton Knight without moving.
“Manager! Thanks so much for the bone adhesive!”
Just then, the orange-haired girl who had borrowed the adhesive approached with a bright, cheerful smile.
“Huh?”
She glanced at Simon, whose head drooped with disappointment, and then at the Skeleton Knight whose waist had gone slack.
“Kyahahaha!”
She burst out laughing, so loud that nearby students frowned and turned to look at her.
“What is this! Pffft! Hahaha! What kind of decrepit skeleton is this supposed to be?”
“It’s defective.”
Simon’s face burned as he took the adhesive back.
“Kyahahah! Snort! Oh, I’m sorry! Hehehehe!”
After laughing loudly, she seemed to lose her strength and leaned her back against Toto’s shoulder. Toto stiffened completely, his face flushing scarlet.
“Your pose from earlier looked just like the skeleton’s pose. Hehehehe! And to think it’s the summoned creature of its master. Kikikik!”
“Stop laughing!”
And in a seat a little ways off.
Aseraz Mikel, who ranked fifth, had heard the laughter and now his eyes gleamed.
‘A defective unit? He was the trickiest to work with, but luck’s on his side for the first class.’
Hector, sitting in the very back row, watched the scene with an expressionless face.
‘Well, these things happen.’
Left alone again, Simon grunted and tried to straighten the Skeleton Knight whose waist had caved in. But immediately it bent backward with a soft creak.
‘I can’t give up like this. There’s still plenty of class time left.’
Of course, Aaron had said he’d give Simon full marks for craftsmanship despite the defective material, but the poor overall quality meant his total score would inevitably drop.
Kizen had no flexibility in evaluation—only results mattered.
‘I’ll try everything I can think of!’
If results were all that mattered, then a temporary fix would do—he just needed to brace the waist somehow so the knight could move properly for this class period alone.
Simon pulled out taping used in Summoning Studies and tore it open with a sharp sound.
Then he wrapped it tightly around the waist section, back and forth.
‘I’ll route the dark element flow to the side.’
Simon drew a small magic circle on the defective bone, then drew another circle on top of it. He built a temporary circuit so the dark element could flow directly between the circles without passing through the bone itself.
‘Good, like this?’
Simon stepped back and folded his arms.
“Move now, Knight!”
Click. Click.
As Simon sent a mental command, the Skeleton Knight stumbled forward and began taking tentative steps. It was clumsy, but at least it could walk now.
‘Running might be impossible, but this is something.’
Simon exhaled and pulled a sword from his pocket dimension, placing it in the Skeleton Knight’s hand. Then he angled the blade away from where anyone was standing.
“Swing!”
Whoooosh!
A decent sound rang out. Hope kindled in Simon’s eyes. The other students began murmuring and looking his way.
“Now sideways!”
Swaaang!
The Skeleton Knight twisted its waist and delivered a wide swing, but.
Crack!
Unable to withstand the force, the knight’s waist bent again and wobbled like a spring. Boing. Boing. Simon covered his forehead, and laughter rippled through the room.
“You okay, Simon?”
Lorain approached and asked. Simon nodded forcefully, doing his best to project confidence.
“Of course. I’m not giving up yet.”
“Right, hang in there.”
Had she come on purpose to encourage him? Simon felt strength truly return to his body.
‘Still, I saw a path back there.’
Simon laid out all his equipment on the table. He had no intention of surrendering.
* * *
Time passed.
Students finished their Skeleton Knights one by one and stood in line waiting for inspection.
And the first to complete her Knight in second-year Summoning Studies was Aseraz Mikel.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
Each time her Knight swung its sword, murmurs of admiration rippled through the room.
A powerful downstroke delivered with perfect form. It bore no comparison to the ragged swordplay of an ordinary skeleton.
“Well done, Aseraz.”
Aaron, holding the evaluation sheet, nodded.
“Your score is…….”
“I haven’t finished yet, Professor.”
As Aseraz issued a telepathic command, the Skeleton Knight lowered the shield it had been holding in its left hand. Instead, it grasped another sword.
‘Twin Blade?’
The moment Aseraz gave the next order.
Slash! Slash!
Two blades traced a beautiful arc as they crossed. The students gasped in awe, their mouths falling open. Even Aaron nodded with satisfaction.
“Impressive. How did you manage it?”
“The material for my Skeleton Knight is a Danger Level 3 monster called Galbaren.”
She launched into her explanation at once.
“It’s a monster that employs unconventional combat tactics. I formed a strong telepathic connection with the Skeleton Knight and focused on finding the most suitable technique from its living form. When I equipped it with two swords, I noticed the effect doubled, so I adjusted the skeletal structure of its wrists and arms to match that characteristic.”
“……So summoned creature crafting is just the foundation, and you’ve already imbued it with personality.”
Aaron smiled.
“It’s a shame I can’t give a score higher than A+. Well done.”
Clap, clap, clap, clap!
Aseraz descended from the podium amid the students’ applause.
“Next!”
Hector assembled a knight as large as himself—about 1.5 times the size of an ordinary Skeleton Knight—and received an A+. It was common knowledge in Summoning Studies that the larger the skeleton, the more difficult it was to construct.
Fitzgerald carved enchanted magical circles into the equipment, and when combat began, the skeleton independently infused its sword and armor with dark essence to strengthen itself—an undead with distinctive flair that drew praise from the students.
But Aaron’s assessment was different.
“The idea has merit, but you failed to account for the knight’s dark essence consumption and available duration. At this rate, it won’t be strong enough to forego control altogether, and it’ll struggle to function for more than five minutes.”
Fitzgerald looked taken aback by the unexpected criticism, but he quickly adjusted his glasses and replied.
“My intention was to create a Skeleton Knight model specialized for short, decisive engagements that compensates for that limitation.”
“That’s a decent impromptu answer.”
But Aaron saw through Fitzgerald entirely.
“If you truly intended to build a model specialized for short bursts, you wouldn’t have inscribed enchanted circles on the armor.”
……
“And if you’d used lighter light armor instead, I’d have accepted your explanation. B+, Fitzgerald.”
Few tricks could slip past Professor Kizen’s eye.
Fitzgerald accepted it cleanly and returned to his seat, where he spoke quietly to Toto.
“It was worth a try, I thought.”
……Haha.
Then, in turn.
“Simon Polentia.”
Simon came up for evaluation. Beside him shuffled a Skeleton Knight with an unsteady gait. Scattered laughter erupted from various corners of the classroom.
“……You did your best.”
Aaron spoke sympathetically.
It was a Skeleton Knight that had succeeded in holding its defective spine rigidly upright by exhausting every resource imaginable, but at the cost of sacrificing many other aspects. Even the armor had been cut down to reduce weight, fashioned like light armor.
“As I said before, your craftsmanship was flawless. But as a professor of Summoning Studies, I must evaluate based on the final result.”
“I understand.”
“Simon, the score I’m giving you is…….”
“Wait, Professor.”
Aaron turned his head. Simon spread his arms with a meaningful smile.
“I’m confident this knight can defeat any other knight in combat.”
The surrounding students murmured. Some laughed outright in mockery.
“Is he bluffing?”
“Even after seeing what happened to Fitzgerald?”
“Aaron doesn’t fall for that kind of thing.”
At those words, a deep smile crossed Aaron’s lips.
“Can you stake your reputation on that?”
“Of course.”
Aaron’s gaze shifted.
The first person he saw was Hector.
Honestly, having watched Simon and Hector grow together in Class A all this time, he wanted to see them fight.
But during class, he had to put aside personal desires as a professor. It had to be the student with the best-crafted Skeleton Knight in this session.
“Aseraz Mikel. Come.”
Creak!
As if she’d been waiting for this, Aseraz stood and brought forward her Skeleton Knight, its twin blades gleaming.
Hector had half-risen from his seat, but as he watched Aseraz leave, he ground his teeth.
“Simon Polentia.”
Aaron turned his head.
“If you defeat Aseraz’s Skeleton Knight, I’ll believe what you said.”
A smile played at the corner of Simon’s mouth.
“Let me show you.”
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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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