Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 561

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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 Necromancer School’s Summoning Genius – Episode 561
In the dead of night, Simon climbed the staircase alone.
The Ivory Tower’s Circular Staircase was the only passage to reach the upper or lower floors. Normally, one would use the elevator magical circle installed there rather than ascending on foot, but it had been shut down for the late hour.
‘Eerie.’
Wandering through the tower at such an hour was forbidden, so silence hung heavy in the air. The pre-dawn wind seeping through the windows carried a chill.
Gathering his robe about himself, Simon finally reached the 55th Floor.
This floor held the materials that Kizen’s headquarters had requested. If anyone caught him, it would be over—so Simon moved with careful deliberation.
Creak. Creak.
Upon entering the 55th Floor proper, voices broke through the silence once more.
Of course, they weren’t real people. The Tower of Time’s anomalies persisted regardless of day or night.
—Our mages have an obsession with the purity of mana. They believe that only the most unadulterated mana yields superior results.
—But mana can achieve true synergy only when something is added to it. We may be so fixated on purity that we’re overlooking what truly matters!
As befitted the Ivory Tower, there were many scenes of lectures and research.
—This treaty is unjust!
—We must fight back! Rise up!
There were also historical scenes of common people staging rebellion.
The gray-hued figures of the past rendered their era with vivid clarity. There was good reason why archaeologists frothed at the mouth trying to enter the Tower of Time.
But Simon, occupied with a secret mission, had no leisure to admire such sights.
‘Room 38, Room 38.’
He focused on finding the chamber. He dared not ignite a lantern; instead, he’d reversed the effect of the Night Blindness curse, calibrating it to enhance his vision, and fitted it over his eyes.
Curse or not, his eyes felt strained. At moments like this, he envied the Priests and their Blessings—enhancements that came without side effects.
‘…This is nerve-wracking.’
He had to be wary of the Ivory Tower soldiers on patrol, the Dungeon’s monsters, and Girdon—that wraith prowling somewhere within the Tower of Time.
Whoosh.
After checking all the rooms ahead, Simon turned his head.
‘I think I need to go that way.’
And naturally, the path Simon needed to take was blocked by a temporal anomaly.
—Go! Follow the prince!
—Long live the Kingdom of Dresden!
Worse still, it was a scene of war. Soldiers in crude armor surged toward an advancing enemy force.
Simon scratched his head as he contemplated how to get through.
‘Ugh, I really don’t want to do this.’
Grumbling inwardly, he opened a subspace and withdrew a sword.
Embarrassment would last only a moment.
He braced himself and bellowed with all his might.
“Follow the prince!”
Then he gripped the sword and plunged into the gray-toned history.
—Uaaaaahhhhh!
The soldiers within the history answered his cry, raising their weapons. Simon charged forward alongside them, shouting in unison.
‘Good—if I just sprint diagonally like this, I can slip through!’
—You there!
Someone called out just as he was about to pass.
Simon’s expression stiffened as he glanced toward the voice. A young man in armor was grinning at him.
—What bravery, to join the battlefield at such a tender age! And to inspire the soldiers’ morale—splendid!
‘N-no, Princess Molly?’
This man seemed to be the prince, but his features were identical to Molly’s.
He looked like Molly with short hair—surely a distant ancestor of hers.
—I hereby appoint you to my personal guard! Come, aid me in crushing those imperial dogs!
Simon gritted his teeth.
Focus. Focus. Focus. Focus.
“It is the honor of my house! Your Highness! I shall strike them down with every fiber of my being!”
—Hahahaha!
So Simon found himself running alongside the prince in a pantomime of battle for over twenty minutes.
—The enemy is upon us!
—They come!
They kept saying they were coming, but no actual fighting broke out. He’d been running the whole time.
It seemed the Ivory Tower’s records ended at the charge itself. The anomaly couldn’t recreate a past era when the Dungeon didn’t exist.
“Your Highness!”
Simon’s mind raced as he concocted a new excuse.
“My father—he’s actually in the western flank! I wish to go save him!”
Following Father onto the battlefield—such filial piety! How admirable!
The prince nodded, visibly moved.
Very well, then. I wish you fortune!
“Thank you! Glory to the Kingdom of Dresden!”
With that cry, Simon bolted forward and finally broke free from the gray-tinted history. The moment he stepped out, he collapsed face-down on the floor, cradling his burning cheeks.
‘……I’m, I’m so embarrassed.’
Thank goodness no one had seen that.
Simon regrouped and pressed onward. The thought that he’d have to do this all over again on the way back made him dizzy for a moment, but he had to hurry before dawn broke.
Fortunately, his destination wasn’t far.
At the end of the corridor, past the anomaly, there was a door.
Room 38.
Tszzzzzzzzz.
‘!’
The distinctive cry of a Tower of Time creature echoed through the air.
‘Is it nearby?’
Simon felt a chill run down his spine as he stared at the doorknob of Room 38.
‘I, I should just go inside…….’
[I wouldn’t touch that if I were you.]
Simon’s face went pale. He quickly summoned a dark aura and spun around.
[Good to see you!]
Someone was there.
A short man wearing a rabbit mask on his face. His entire form was hazy, accompanied by crackling static noise.
‘A being born from an anomaly!’
Fortunately, it wasn’t one of the Ivory Tower’s guards.
Simon exhaled inwardly with relief and forced a smile.
“Ah, hello there.”
What historical figure could this person be?
With no background information at hand, he decided to just say something, anything—the way he’d managed with the prince earlier.
“It’s been so long! How have you been all this time?”
The rabbit mask chuckled and spun the staff in his hand with a flourish.
[We’ve only just met, yet you speak as if you know me?]
“Oh, right, of course.”
[You’re an amusing one.]
First he’d been worn down by the prince who resembled Molly, and now a rabbit mask.
Simon forced another smile, thinking how impossibly difficult this mission had become.
“What are you doing here?”
He had to figure out this person’s background information one way or another.
[That’s not a very entertaining topic.]
But the rabbit mask evaded smoothly. Simon pressed on with patience.
“Then what is interesting……?”
[Shall I guess what you’re doing here?]
The rabbit mask’s mouth stretched into a wide grin.
[A boy from Kizen. You’ve come to pry secrets from the Ivory Tower, haven’t you?]
Whoosh!
In the blink of an eye, Simon drew the Chaos Spear from his waist and leveled it at the figure.
“……Who are you? You don’t seem to be just a simple anomaly.”
[Good eye.]
The rabbit mask answered thus and walked with hands clasped behind his back. Simon shifted his arms, tracking the spear’s tip.
[It’s true I’m an entity born from the tower’s anomalies, but I’m qualitatively different from those babbling fools out there.]
“…….”
Confusion washed over him.
All humans created by the tower’s anomalies were mere fictions, nothing more than illusions. The moment they became aware of their own fictionality, the instant they grasped that the world around them was false, they would rampage like monsters and attack those near them.
Yet this rabbit mask knew the truth of his own existence and showed no signs of monstrous transformation. Worse still, he knew Simon’s identity.
[Could you put that frightening thing away? After all, I just saved you a moment ago.]
The rabbit mask spoke in a drawling tone. Simon’s eyes hardened.
“……You saved me?”
[If you’d pulled on that door to Room 38.]
He pointed at the wall with the tip of his finger.
[A security spell would have activated. You’d have been struck by lightning, and the Ivory Tower’s guards would have come pouring in immediately.]
“……!”
[Check the wall once more.]
Simon hesitated, but he swept his spear across the wall while keeping it leveled at the rabbit-masked figure.
‘!’
There it was.
Hidden in camouflage colors identical to the wall itself, like a chameleon, but unmistakably a magical circle.
[I told you so, didn’t I? The equation would be difficult for a student like you to solve.]
The rabbit-masked figure gestured with his hand as if performing magic.
[Let me help.]
The edges of the magical circle loosened, and soon it scattered completely into the ambient mana and vanished.
[I shifted the time of the magical circle, accelerating its duration until it naturally dissolved.]
Only then did Simon lower his spear.
“Who are you?”
[Hehehehe! Call me the Ghost of Time!]
He bowed deeply once more, like a gentleman.
[Shall we go inside and talk?]

* * *
The Ghost of Time.
Whether enemy or ally remained unclear.
But if Simon had opened the door to Room 38 in a panic at the sound of the monster’s cry, the Ivory Tower would have discovered him. Setting aside everything else, the fact remained that this figure had saved Simon.
The two entered Room 38.
It was a storage room no longer in use. Even during the Festival of Time, the Ivory Tower had apparently not bothered to clean this far—cobwebs and dust lay thick in every corner.
[Come, make yourself comfortable.]
The rabbit-masked figure, who had introduced himself as the Ghost of Time, spoke thus. Simon stared at him intently.
“Before that, I’d like to know more clearly who you are.”
It was true that he had dissolved the magical circle and helped him, but it could be a trap.
Perhaps he was only pretending to help while gathering evidence to capture Simon.
[Suspicious nature, I see. I rather like it.]
As he slowly leaned back, his body lifted off the ground and hung suspended in midair.
[You’ve heard of the Dungeon Gate Incident that occurred at the Ivory Tower three hundred years ago, haven’t you?]
“Of course.”
[I am a man of that era.]
Interesting.
Simon’s eyes filled with curiosity.
“What were you doing during the Gate Incident?”
[At that time,]
The Ghost of Time raised his voice.
[I was aboard a Time Machine!]
Simon’s expression, which had been listening intently, cooled sharply.
“……Ah, yes. A Time Machine.”
[What’s with that reaction! In any case, that’s how it was. Back then, research into Time Magic was all the rage at the Ivory Tower, and I myself had invented a special artifact called the Time Machine.]
That’s impressive, Simon replied flatly.
[But my colleagues dismissed me as a fool and focused only on the magical project led by the Tower Master himself. I boarded the Time Machine personally to prove my achievements! Then!]
The Ghost of Time struck the floor with the staff in his hand.
[The Dungeon Gate opened at precisely that moment!]
The Dungeon that opened at the highest level of the Ivory Tower consumed all the Time Magic that the Tower had been developing. He, who happened to be aboard the Time Machine, was no exception.
[A fascinating phenomenon unfolded that day.]
He laughed with a chuckling sound and spread both arms wide.
[I certainly exist as an anomaly born of the Dungeon’s distortion, yet I can think and judge for myself! At the same time, influenced by the Time Machine, I came to perceive the “time” flowing within the Tower. No being like me exists anywhere else in the world!]
Simon folded his arms.
“Isn’t eternal existence a burden?”
[Hardly! That’s a delusion held by those who bear the burden of a body!]
He gazed upward at the ceiling with an absorbed expression.
[I revel in freedom from the constraints of mortality, endlessly contemplating and researching whatever subject strikes my fancy! I do not reveal my existence to the people here, but occasionally I leave the fruits of my research by the window. Someone comes by every day to collect them and registers them as his own research, rising to the top echelons of the Ivory Tower! Well, so be it! Hahaha!]
As the conversation kept veering off course, Simon steered it back.
“If you’re eternally trapped inside this Tower, how did you learn that I came here to extract information from the Ivory Tower?”
[Didn’t I mention it? I can see time. From the moment you set foot in this Tower until the moment you leave, I can see all of your time.]
To “see” time.
It was an unfamiliar concept.
[To my eyes, it is visible. I can see how you activate a certain artifact on the 55th Floor today to obtain information, and tomorrow you will go to the 63rd Floor.]
“……!”
It was precise fact.
He knew which floors led where, even the identity of the ‘Artifact’ that hadn’t yet been brought into view.
On top of that, he’d spoken of how Simon would be struck by a curse from the sleepwalking girl once he returned to his lodging after completing the mission.
“……Is this some kind of prophecy?”
[Hah, prophecy, you say! What humans call past, present, and future are merely fictional concepts they’ve invented to make sense of a world they cannot perceive in four-dimensional spacetime! In truth, time stretches infinitely!]
What on earth is he talking about? Simon pressed his palm to his forehead.
“Never mind the difficult concepts—I understand that you can see my future inside this tower. So what is your purpose?”
The rabbit mask, which had fallen silent for a moment, spoke in a grave voice.
[The truth is, from some point onward, I can no longer see the future of this ‘tower.’]
“……What?”
[The tower’s timeline has gone pitch black—I cannot see it! What this means is one thing. Something terrible must be about to happen in the Tower of Time! It’s certain that the Ivory Tower’s master is plotting something sinister using this tower!]
Simon’s expression grew grave as well.
“How far ahead is this point where the future disappears?”
The rabbit mask spread its fingers.
[Four days from now.]
Simon’s mouth fell open.
Four days from now would be the last day of Simon’s deployment to the Ivory Tower.
[Before long, something terrible will unfold in this tower.]

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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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