Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 480

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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 480
“Bone Dragon. When do you think you’ll be able to master it?”
Hidden among the orange fallen leaves, the skeletal dragon’s elegant form left Simon utterly transfixed.
Simon had finished his first year by creating a Lich.
And now, as a second-year student, Aaron had set the goal of crafting a Dullahan.
“Before the end of second year.”
A radiant smile tugged at Simon’s lips.
“I’m going to make it my goal to create one. No—I’ll create it and demonstrate my mastery before you.”
Watching Simon’s back as he clenched his fist with resolve, Neftis broke into a grin.
“That’s the spirit! Go for it, our Student Council president!”

* * *
The next morning.
Aaron’s intermediate Summoning Studies class began.
After covering Skeleton Knight creation on the first day, Aaron moved to the second day’s focus: operating Skeleton Knights and practicing their signature technique, Bash.
The class was held at the Outdoor Training Grounds.
The students spread out across the wide space, standing alongside the Skeleton Knights they’d created the day before. Each student’s knight swung its blade forcefully through the empty air, one stroke after another.
“Channel the dark element from your Summoning Magic Circle through the blade and concentrate it there.”
Aaron moved between the students with his hands clasped behind his back, offering instruction.
“All the monsters that serve as the primary materials for Skeleton Knights understood the concept of Aura in life. You don’t need to rely solely on Magic Circles. Guide the undead to recall memories from their former lives and allow the technique to manifest naturally.”
Aaron turned away, raising his voice.
“Again, strike!”
Whoosh!
All the knights’ blades came down. Several of them had turned black with concentrated power before returning to normal. The successful students burst into cries of delight.
“Well done.”
Aaron spoke.
“Aura is the technique of infusing mana into a blade—a power as iconic as the ancient knights themselves. Think of it as manifesting that through your undead’s dark element.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Again, strike!”
After that, Aaron left the overall progression to his senior teaching assistant and moved among the students, offering individual comments to each.
“Alibaran Pines. I understand you have skill with the sword, but don’t be fixated on the knight’s stance. The purpose of this training is to find the sword stroke that the knight was most comfortable with in life. Once that stroke is perfected, Bash will begin to emerge naturally.”
“Yes, thank you!”
“Hector. You’re too rigid. Your will is so powerful that the knight created yesterday can’t keep pace with your movements. Adjust your tempo and control your strength.”
“Understood.”
As Aaron turned to correct another student, his gaze shifted.
‘Simon.’
This one had already succeeded at Bash.
The black energy on the skeleton knight’s blade wavered and held firm for an impressively long duration.
‘But why is he so intensely focused today?’
Simon’s eyes blazed with unwavering determination as he stared ahead.
Aaron recognized that look.
It was the same gaze he’d worn when he alone was thinking of creating a Lich while others made Skeleton Mages.
Aaron had assumed the moment of true ambition wouldn’t arrive until later in his studies—so what had happened last night? A change of heart, perhaps?
Curiosity getting the better of him, Aaron approached.
“Simon.”
He called his name, but Simon was so concentrated he didn’t even hear the words spoken right beside him.
Aaron waited patiently, and as the senior teaching assistant called out “Strike!”, the blade of Simon’s controlled knight came down.
Whoosh!
The arc it traced was clean and beautiful.
Though the knight’s posture wasn’t perfect due to a slight hip weakness, it displayed the finest execution possible given the circumstances.
Finally breaking free from his concentration, Simon wiped the sweat from his brow with a long exhale.
“Simon.”
Simon startled and spun around.
“Ah! Yes, Professor!”
“The Bash technique that a knight uses concentrates the dark element into a line and detonates it all at once—a striking blow. What you’re having your knight do right now isn’t Bash; it’s closer to Enchant.”
“Ah, well…”
Simon scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.
“Actually, I was searching for the stroke pattern that would suit my knight best, and it ended up this way.”
Aaron’s eyes widened in surprise.
Without anyone’s guidance, he’d charted his own creative direction.
Soon enough, his expression settled back into its usual composure, and he turned his head away.
“That will suffice, then.”
“?”
Aaron said nothing more and walked to the side, where he corrected Toto’s swordwork with the Knight.

* * *
After practice ended, the students were given a thirty-minute break. Aaron, seated in a chair near the training grounds, watched Simon with an odd expression.
‘This is getting almost frighteningly intense. Something must have happened.’
Simon’s training continued even through the rest period. When Simon commanded the Skeleton Knight to spin, the creature’s body whirled like a top.
This time, it seemed the Bash effect was applied as well—a spinning top of pure darkness.
Toto threw a stone at it from above, and with a sharp crack, the rock was ground to powder. Simon and Toto whooped in celebration, slapping their palms together.
“Hey, Toto! Check this out too. I’ve come up with a new technique.”
“What? What is it?”
“It’s still experimental, but—”
Simon opened a Subspace in front of him.
Shriek!
The moment the Subspace tore open, three Skeleton Knights burst forth from within, spinning like tops, their bodies shredding the air as they passed through.
This was far more than the first Knight’s simple waist rotation. From feet to torso, their entire bodies were rotating.
“T-tremendous!”
Toto cried out in amazement. Students at their own stations perked up, their eyes gleaming as they watched.
But the stop sequence wasn’t quite perfect yet—the Knights’ bodies shattered the moment they halted their spin, fragments scattering in all directions. Simon dashed about collecting the pieces, with Toto hurrying to help.
“Simon! You had three more Knights this whole time?”
Toto ran over cradling bones, asking the question. Simon glanced nervously at Aaron and the other instructors before whispering.
“Actually, I bought them in Rochester yesterday. To test out this technique.”
“Ah!”
“I’ve already got a rough name for the technique. Blade Storm?”
“What about Whirlwind?”
Aaron, watching from a distance, covered his forehead and let out a heavy sigh.
‘…Madman.’
And shortly after.
While Simon and Toto were in the restroom, students suddenly began attempting to spin their own Skeleton Knights.
A strange trend was sweeping through the Summoning Major.

* * *
The morning practical ended there. Aaron led the students back to the classroom. While Skeleton Knight drills were fine, textbook progression had to continue.
“Speaking of which, I received a common question from several students yesterday.”
Aaron tapped the blackboard with chalk as he spoke.
“When I mentioned creating the 3-Tier Undead, the headless knight ‘Dullahan,’ some of you asked what the term ‘Tier’ meant.”
Students like Aseraz and Hector, who had done preliminary study, broke into laughter.
Simon, meanwhile, could only roll his eyes.
‘I don’t know either.’
“Quiet.”
At Aaron’s word, silence fell over the room once more.
“It’s a concept not covered in the 1st-Year Summoning Studies curriculum, so it’s natural not to know. Let me explain.”
He wrote the word “Tier” on the blackboard.
“As you all know, it’s a term meaning ‘level’ or ‘rank.’ I don’t particularly care for it, but it’s used widely in practice, so we’ll address it.”
Aaron’s chalk danced across the board as he wrote.
“Tier in Summoning Studies is a concept somewhat different from ‘grade.’ All of you have a maximum limit to how many Undead you can simultaneously control at once.”
Simon nodded.
In Simon’s case, without using the Legion Commander’s power, he could currently handle eight summoned Undead simultaneously. He’d achieved eight units around the second semester of 1st Year, and it hadn’t increased much since then.
Of course, he could make it appear as though he was controlling more Undead through Cross Operation, and if he deployed Cloud and used the Personal Guard technique, he could handle twenty-four Undead or more.
“I can do five.”
Toto’s voice came from the side.
“Eight, for me.”
Fitzgerald pushed his glasses up as he spoke.
While the students murmured among themselves, Aaron resumed his explanation.
“The maximum number of Undead you can control through Mental Control varies considerably from person to person. Now, suppose there’s a Necromancer who can simultaneously control a maximum of ten Undead.”
Aaron scribbled numbers across the blackboard.
“This Necromancer can control ten 1-Tier Undead, five 2-Tier Undead, and up to three 3-Tier Undead.”
‘I see!’
Simon’s eyes widened sharply.
‘The mental control required to command the undead!’
“You should have a sense of it by now.”
He lowered the chalk as he spoke.
“Undead with strong individual will and originality demand considerable mental reserves to control. In such cases, handling only a few of them exhausts your capacity for any others.”
The students nodded in unison.
“But as I said from the beginning, I’m not fond of this concept and terminology. We mustn’t plant unnecessary prejudices in your minds. First, tier is a relative concept.”
Since commanding undead through mental control itself involves mental fortitude, there can be differences from person to person.
Take two necromancers who can each handle a maximum of ten undead—one might command five tier 2 undead, while another might handle five tier 2 undead plus one tier 1. Some necromancers even require less mental control for tier 4 undead than tier 3.
“Don’t accept it as an absolute concept. Think of higher tiers as simply more difficult to command but more powerful undead. And second, the maximum number of undead a summoner can control does not determine their strength.”
He wrote a name in chalk on the board.
“For example, Renzi Mahomes, an active professional necromancer, can control only a maximum of three undead. Yet even that alone elevated him to the highest ranks. His ‘Golem Triumvirate’ is counted among the finest summoned combinations in existence.”
The students began taking notes with keen interest.
“Finally, third: tier has many variables. Some of you may know this, others not, but the Lich is a tier 1 undead. The same tier as an ordinary zombie or skeleton. But are Liches and skeletons equivalent? Of course not.”
Aaron glanced around the classroom.
“This is possible because of the Lich’s unique trait—a Life Vessel, a heart placed outside its body. And there is also tier 0 undead.”
“Tier 0?”
“What is that?”
At the student’s question, Aaron smiled wryly and wrote seven characters on the board.
“Ancient Undead.”
……
Simon felt his heart lurch.
“These primordial beings require no mental control from a necromancer. They are themselves capable of commanding other undead as subordinates. Similarly.”
He wrote the characters “Legion Commander” above.
“Legion Commanders transcend such concepts entirely. They can command thousands, tens of thousands of undead legions. Numbers are no constraint.”
The class gasped in awe.
“That’s unfair.”
Hearing Toto’s grumbling, Simon laughed, wiping cold sweat from his forehead.
“Of course, Legion Commanders don’t rely excessively on undead forces led by Ancient Undead, or so I’ve heard. They command their own directly summoned undead with near-perfect precision.”
Aaron glanced at the clock on the wall.
“Time’s nearly up. Any other questions about today’s lesson?”
A hand rose among the silent students.
It was Simon.
“Simon Polentia.”
Aaron nodded, and Simon stood from his seat, his eyes grave.
“Perhaps an abrupt question, but what tier undead is a Bone Dragon?”
The students’ murmuring ceased. Aaron regarded Simon with an odd look before answering.
“A Bone Dragon starts at a minimum of tier 10. Some are so formidable that one doubts humans could control them at all.”
Simon’s heart raced wildly.
An extraordinarily difficult undead he couldn’t yet create, let alone command.
That was the Bone Dragon.
‘This is good. Having a clear goal ignites my ambition!’
Seated once more, Simon burned with fervor. And Aaron, watching from a distance, had hardened his expression.
‘Surely not that mad bastard.’
He could only pray it wasn’t so.

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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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