Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 494
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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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Necromancer School’s Summoning Genius Episode 494
At last, the day of reckoning arrived. The Practical Assessment for Summoning Material Studies had begun.
The assessment venue was located in the Botanical Garden within the Kizen campus.
“Is everyone ready?”
A bare-chested man wearing sunglasses called out in a loud voice—Professor Grerion. The students answered with vigor, shouting “Yes, sir!”
“I’m starting the timer now. Begin!”
The students scattered in all directions with fierce determination in their eyes.
Kizen’s Botanical Garden was an enormous structure built of reinforced concrete and vinyl, containing flora from every corner of the continent.
With Grerion’s permission, the students could harvest two species of plants here and combine them to create their own chimera.
The heart of this practical assessment was determining how powerfully synergistic a chimera each student could produce.
“It’s incredibly humid in here.”
Toto wiped the sweat from his brow as he spoke. Simon had already stripped off his School Uniform jacket and draped it around his waist, scanning the surrounding plants.
“Toto, have you decided what you’ll fuse?”
“Yeah! I anticipated this kind of assessment and brought several lists with me!”
Toto waved his notebook excitedly, but Simon immediately covered his ears.
“Toto, cover your ears.”
“Huh?”
“Someone’s harvesting mandrake.”
Shrieeeeeeeeeek!
A plant that screams when uprooted—the mandrake’s reputation preceded it well.
Students who heard the cry quickly clapped their hands over their ears.
The student who had harvested the mandrake quickly wrapped it in black vinyl and buried it deep in soil before the creature finally fell silent.
Toto lowered his hands from his ears and murmured thoughtfully.
“Mark my words—whoever modifies that mandrake into a chimera and turns its scream into a song is going to get an A+.”
“Oh, that’s actually a brilliant idea.”
Toto quickly found the plants he wanted and left the garden, while Simon ventured deeper.
[Extremely dangerous.]
[Risk of being consumed.]
He had reached the section where carnivorous plants and their related plant-type monsters dwelled.
Venture further inward and there were eccentric creatures that devoured entire monsters in a single bite, but even Grerion’s authority didn’t permit access to such depths.
Time was limited. Simon hurried to examine the carnivorous plants in the garden.
“Found it!”
A carnivorous plant dripping toxins from its maw—its color and form matched the bestiary exactly.
Simon carefully uprooted it and placed it in his collection bag. To be safe, he gathered a few other plants as well.
‘Good. Next.’
His next destination was the section of the Botanical Garden dedicated to plants from cold regions.
Chilling air emanated from the magic circles on the ceiling; the deeper he went, the more snow appeared, and strange specimens even took root upon ice.
His breath became visible. Simon unwound the jacket from his waist, draped it around his shoulders, and fastened the buttons.
‘All right. Keep pushing—I can do this!’
* * *
An hour later, Simon had gathered all his materials without difficulty and emerged from the Botanical Garden.
Outside the garden, workstations had been set up.
This was where the chimera fusion would take place, and the students who had arrived first were now drawing upon everything they’d learned in class to construct their plant chimeras.
Simon looked around, searching for an empty spot.
‘Oh, there’s Lorain.’
Lorain’s table was filled with delicate, whimsical plants that spoke to her personal taste.
When she noticed Simon passing by, she hesitantly mentioned she was planning to create a chimera as a fragrance material. Though he hadn’t asked, Simon quietly cheered her on.
And next to her, Hector was in absolute chaos.
He had harvested some sort of vine-like plant monster, and it was now locked in a fierce struggle with him and his materials. The vine creature wrapped around Hector with wild ferocity while he tore at it with brute strength.
Simon quietly slipped past, pretending not to notice.
‘Found an empty spot!’
Finally settled at a table, Simon carefully laid out the materials he’d gathered one by one.
He washed his hands thoroughly, set up his tools, and unfurled a length of Mana Tape.
Thanks to having memorized the plant bestiary, ideas had come to him the moment he’d heard Grerion’s assignment.
‘Let me start by creating just two varieties.’
* * *
“The assessment is over.”
Grerion stopped his timer and spoke to the students.
“Hands above your heads, everyone. Any student who touches the table even slightly gets an F.”
“Students! Step back three paces from the table.”
The students reluctantly withdrew, smacking their lips in regret. Some, unable to shake their longing even as time passed, tried to release their Dark Element aura toward the display before the teaching assistants stopped them.
“Now I’ll introduce a special artifact for this Chimera evaluation.”
Grerion spoke. Behind him, four teaching assistants were grunting and hauling out a massive pot.
“It’s ‘Rouina’s Pot,’ brought here with permission from Neftis. As you all know, a freshly combined plant Chimera struggles to achieve full performance. Since it’s a plant, it takes time. But if you plant something in this pot, you can preview what that plant will look like six months from now in phantom form.”
The students murmured at the novel evaluation method.
“Cut to the chase—I’ll show you the evaluation format right now. Front row, come up one at a time.”
The students in the front row lined up carefully, each cradling one of the Chimera plants from the pot.
“Report.”
The first boy to step forward opened his mouth.
“I’m Matt Comer! I combined a Linset, which produces sweet and delicious fruit, with Phris, a plant-type monster.”
“Why combine those two?”
“Linset produces sweet, fragrant fruit, but it has the characteristic of bearing only one at a time. Phris is a plant-type monster that grows multiple tree fruits in clusters! I wanted to combine them to produce expensive Linset fruit in abundance.”
The boy rattled off examples of similar plant-type monster and plant improvements he’d already succeeded with, speaking with obvious confidence.
“So it’s breed improvement through Chimera creation. We’ll know the results when we see them. Plant it in Rouina’s Pot.”
“Yes!”
When the boy planted the Chimera into Rouina’s Pot, a phantom of an identical plant soon materialized beside it.
“……Ah.”
But.
The phantom plant Chimera hung limp and rotted black, decomposing into mush.
“This is what happens when you combine plants that don’t match. You’ve killed off perfectly healthy specimens for nothing. Your grade is F.”
Watching Grerion hand out the F without mercy, the students exchanged frightened glances.
“Next!”
In fact, when Grerion had announced the practical assessment the week before, a small debate had broken out among the students about how to evaluate plant Chimeras.
It was obvious that a newly made plant-type Chimera wouldn’t function properly—it wasn’t a monster or the Undead, after all.
Some had argued for storing the pots for several months and then checking the results, while others insisted it was an idea competition and that even somewhat unrealistic combinations deserved high scores if presented plausibly.
Those students who’d chosen impact and boldness over Chimera stability all received failing grades as dead plant forms revealed themselves.
“At least it’s alive. That’s a C.”
Surviving six months meant a minimum grade of C.
Grerion rated Chimera survival highly. Lasting several months in nature proved the creator’s understanding and mastery of the Chimera itself.
And then Hector’s turn came.
“Poeti Vine loses aggression because it hunts by touch alone, so I added a plant that can sense temperature in addition to touch, making it a more aggressive monster.”
But it had become far too aggressive. Its vines lashed out in all directions, and in bad luck caught Toto’s leg and dragged him along.
Hector, the presenter, seemed to have given up caring whether the vines wrapped around him or not—he simply stood there, his body sheathed in dragon scales.
“A Chimera practical enough for field use.”
When Hector placed it in Rouina’s Pot, Grerion was satisfied as he observed the phantom of a larger Chimera six months hence.
“A+, Hector Moor.”
“Thank you!”
Grerion, too, was a practical Necromancer.
If students met the stability condition of surviving six months without dying, those who chose more unconventional and combat-focused Chimeras received higher grades.
Moments later, at last came Simon’s turn.
Unlike the large, bold plant-type monsters the other students had chosen, Simon’s specimen was a rather small, diminutive insect-eating plant.
Grerion nodded.
“Report.”
“I’m Simon Polentia. I combined a plant-type monster called Fovea with a Red Tuber Plant that has tuber stems.”
Simon proceeded with his explanation calmly.
According to what he’d seen in plant guides, Fovea grows on Bee Island, where it evolved to devour countless insect-type monsters called Killerbees.
Killerbees rank sixth, and Queen Bee Merdiana even uses them as her main force—they’re a major wasp-type monster.
They possess diverse and potent toxins, but Fovea devours them whole and then combines their poison with compounds from its own body, transforming it into a component harmless to itself, which it expels through the roots.
“So your goal is an antidote.”
Grerion propped his chin on his hand.
“But I’ve never heard of a poison specialist using Fovea as an antidote ingredient.”
“Yes, they simply release the detoxified components through the stem into the ground and waste them. So I replaced those roots with a tuber plant, preventing the antidote compounds from being released into the surrounding soil—instead they accumulate in the stem. Cutting and consuming the stem should produce an antidote effect.”
“We’ll see.”
Grerion immediately planted Simon’s Fovea into Rouina’s Pot.
Moments later, Simon’s Fovea showed itself properly matured in phantom form. The tuber stem was robust and well-developed.
There was no way to tell from the phantom whether the tuber stem actually had antidote properties, but it had unfolded as Simon intended, and most importantly, it had survived.
“Well done. Your grade is A, Simon Polentia.”
“Thank you!”
He couldn’t prove the antidote’s efficacy, which worried him, but Simon was thoroughly satisfied. Shortly after, Grerion called the next student, and Simon returned to his seat.
“Good work.”
Fitzgerald, who along with Hector was the only other student to receive an A+, spoke up. He’d been a Chimera-specialist Necromancer since his first year, making him the strongest student in this subject.
“Thanks, Fitzgerald.”
“If you’ll permit me a personal observation.”
Fitzgerald pointed to the large carnivorous plant sitting on Simon’s table.
“If you’d used something with that kind of impact instead of the Fovea, you might’ve actually gunned for an A+.”
“It was my choice. No regrets.”
Simon smiled softly.
“When I was fusing it into the Chimera, the Fovea’s sensory integration felt much cleaner.”
“That so?”
“Yeah, it attached perfectly without any resistance whatsoever.”
In any case, the students who’d finished their assessments were free.
Some gathered near Rouina’s Pot to admire the other students’ Chimeras, while others sat at their desks, resting and chatting. A few even whiled away the spare time by playfully assembling another Chimera or two.
Simon was tidying up his cluttered table.
“The Summoning Studies class looks rather entertaining.”
Simon spun around in surprise. A gray-haired male student wrapped in bandages was walking toward him across the outdoor training grounds.
“Kassan!”
Kassan smiled wearily, scratching at the wound near his eye.
“The Combat Magic Department spent the entire day wearing Curse Bracelets and running all over Rocksum. Apparently the practical assessment is a desert crossing.”
“…Ha, well. Professor Hong Peng prizes physical endurance above all else.”
Kassan glanced around the area, then gestured to the side. Simon nodded silently and followed him.
A bench behind an empty building.
Kassan pulled out the commission request he’d brought and showed it to Simon.
Registered Commission: Monster Corpse Separation
Commission Rank: F
Commission Reward: 5 Gold
Commission Location: Kingdom of Dresden, Tarodos Territory
Details: Monster corpse separation and contractor provision
Special Notes: 1168798164
“The problem was right here in the special notes. It was a cipher, just as I suspected.”
Kassan’s mouth opened.
“Tarodos once used a language called Lukier—now extinct, pushed out by the Continental Tongue. It appears to be the indigenous language of Tarodos’s original inhabitants.”
Kassan produced the Lukier Vocabulary Table.
“I combined these numbers with the first word of each entry in the Lukier vocabulary table that corresponds to these numbers.”
“Let me try.”
Simon examined the commission request and the Lukier Vocabulary Table alternately.
“Two numbers to one word, right?”
“That’s it.”
“Save… me… please… save… me… What does this even mean…?”
In that instant, Simon felt goosebumps erupt across his entire body.
“Save me. Please.”
“Right.”
Kassan nodded, his expression grave.
“Something insane is happening in Tarodos.”
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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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