Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 580

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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 580
“Huuuuh―”
Simon closed his eyes and drew a slow, deep breath, gathering his concentration.
After taking time to clear every stray thought from his mind, he opened his eyes. A practice bio-organic component sat on the table before him.
It resembled a lung that moved of its own accord, pulsing wetly. Its sole function was to draw mana from the atmosphere and expel it back out.
‘Next.’
Simon examined the magic circle laid out beneath it.
Roughly one-third complete. The border and basic formulae were fixed, but the spaces meant for rune language and core equations stood empty.
It was like staring at a puzzle.
What equation belonged in these blank spaces?
What rune language would suit this configuration?
If he filled these gaps correctly and applied them to the bio-organic component, he would complete an engine organ capable of converting mana into darkness.
‘All right, all right, how should I approach this?’
First, he recalled his objective.
‘I need to convert mana into darkness.’
He mentally summoned the knowledge necessary for that goal.
‘Since I’ll be handling darkness, first I need to transform the bio-organic component into an undead organ.’
‘What’s required for undead transformation? A Modification Formula and a Decay Transformation Formula. I learned that in the Ghoul lesson.’
‘What equation should support the main rune language? A Subordinate Interface should suffice. It’s identical to the Crypt Guard I studied in the textbook before.’
As he posed questions and answered them in succession, he constructed a hypothesis and aligned the framework.
The answers came with surprising ease.
One piece clicked, and another followed. Every lesson he’d absorbed so far rose to the surface, buttressing his theory.
‘I need to make my mental sketch more concrete.’
While other students still bickered over materials, Simon withdrew all his Summoning Studies notes from his bag.
Other students’ tables overflowed with components, but Simon’s desk held only notebooks. He drew a magic circle on a blank page and branched out with formulae beside it, as if sketching limbs.
‘Linked through the Modification Formula.’
‘Professor Aaron stressed the Restraint Rune so much—where can I use it? Should I maintain the lung’s original movement? Ah, then……!’
One idea led to another in an endless chain.
Revelation flooded in like a dam breaking.
‘Theory locked down. Now straight into practice.’
Simon carefully completed the remaining magic circle. He sketched the formulae grounded in the most critical main rune language first, then attached the other equations and secondary runes that followed.
Once finished, he inscribed the magic circle onto the bio-organic component, but it did not function as intended.
‘I got the Modification Formula right, so why won’t it work? Something’s missing? If I assume the magic circle is correct, then the external conditions must be…… Ah!’
The moment his design for the magic circle was complete, the materials he needed became clear. Simon was the fifty-second student in the Summoning Department to fetch a basket and rush off gathering ingredients.
‘White Silk Grass Extract, Base Node, Opel.’
Once he’d brought the materials, he boiled water in the prepared cauldron. He added the components and stirred, gradually reinforcing the bio-organic component.
There came a stage where he had to pierce holes in the bio-organic component with a work knife. Threading Dark Essence Thread through it and twisting it back together in reverse was unmistakably a Chimera Technique.
‘These are all things I already know.’
It was different from when he’d made a Lich relying on raw talent.
His mind held learned information; now he arranged it by intuition.
He was transforming an impenetrable riddle into a solvable puzzle. Knowledge that had seemed unrelated clicked into place piece by piece, unfurling a grand picture.
‘Perfect.’
His lips curved upward of their own accord, joy surging through him.
As Simon pulled ahead, the other students seemed to be catching on as well.
The murmuring complaints had ceased. Only the scratch of quill pens and work knives could be heard; the hall had grown so quiet that all were absorbed in their tasks.
“What, what is it?”
Now the students who’d given up from the start looked pathetic.
“Did you figure something out? How’d you manage something we never learned……?”
“I’m busy. Don’t make me talk.”
The willingness to attempt something was what mattered.
Aaron’s directive to create an “engine” for a Durahan they’d never studied naturally felt vague to everyone. Yet if one took the will to try and pondered it carefully, any student in the Summoning Department would begin to glimpse images taking shape in their mind.
If one grasped those images and attempted something—anything—it became that crucial first step.
Some students bisected the bio-organic component; others applied shells or dripped potent liquids to trigger chemical reactions.
Because this was no formal lecture but a free workshop where students could do as they pleased, a variety of clever ideas bubbled forth.
“Teaching Assistant.”
Simon, absorbed in his work, raised his hand. The teaching assistant approached.
“Yes, student. What is it?”
“Do I have to use only the materials here?”
“Not at all. This is free creative work, so feel free to use whatever you’d like…….”
Whoosh!
Before Aaron could even finish his sentence, Simon disassembled the Mini Night Terror he’d created during his previous Summoning Material Studies class.
Then he began fastening those components haphazardly onto the bio-organic structure.
The Head Teaching Assistant’s eyes went wide.
‘……What kind of bizarre contraption is he trying to build now?’

* * *
“Time’s up. Everyone stop working.”
Aaron spoke. The students all withdrew their hands from the tables and stepped back.
“Well done. I found many of your approaches entertaining and unconventional enough to inspire me. However, we are necromancers, and with practical assessment scores on the line, we can only evaluate based on ‘results.'”
He tapped his shoulder lightly with the clipboard he was holding.
“Any students whose discharge mechanisms failed to produce Dark Element should exit to the rear now.”
The students filed out with disappointed murmurs, like an ebbing tide. Soon only a dozen or so remained in the Outdoor Practical Field.
Among them were exemplary students like Simon, Hector, Aseraz, and Fitzgerald, but there were also unexpected faces.
‘Toto!’
While top-ranked students like Esu and Pierre had been eliminated, Toto remained standing confidently. Aaron approached him first.
“Toto, activate your apparatus.”
“Yes, sir!”
Toto activated the bio-organic structure. Though there was no dramatic outward change, it began throbbing violently, drawing in mana.
What emerged from the discharge opening below was unmistakably mana, though a faint grayish tinge was mixed into it.
“……Ah, is that level of output considered a success?”
“A small amount, but Dark Element is coming through.”
“Well done, Toto!”
The last voice belonged to Esu.
“To make a Death Knight, you’d need at least a Durahan!”
Toto’s face flushed crimson, and scattered laughter rang out across the field.
“Hmm.”
But Aaron’s expression darkened.
“Did you draw a Dark Magic Circle inside the apparatus as well?”
“Ah, yes! Professor!”
“The mana isn’t actually transforming into Dark Element—it’s the Dark Magic Circle you drew inside collapsing as the mana flows through. You’ve missed the mark. Step back.”
Hahahaha!
Boisterous laughter erupted from all sides. Toto returned to his place, his face even redder than before.
“……I still think it was a good attempt, though.”
Lorain, with her kind heart, offered encouragement, but Esu beside her was clutching her stomach in laughter, which didn’t help much.
The evaluation of the other students continued.
Aseraz’s work in particular drew the concentrated gaze of many. What flowed from his discharge opening was like dark mud—maintaining a murky liquid state with visibly high purity in the Dark Element.
“You walked the orthodox path while pursuing maximum efficiency. This is work worthy of a textbook.”
“Thank you, Professor!”
Next came Hector’s turn.
His creation had been so heavily modified that it was nearly impossible to recognize its original form. Numerous holes were visible, indistinguishable as inlets or outlets.
“The mutation has been heavily applied.”
“Yes.”
Hector spoke with confidence.
“I introduced variations to the Modification Formula and Decay Transformation Formula, driving the mutation to an even more extreme state.”
“Activate it.”
As Hector activated the Magic Circle, the bio-organic structure began drawing mana through every opening. The influx of mana was visible to the naked eye.
“What? It’s just endlessly sucking in mana?”
“Where’s the output?”
The students murmured with confused expressions, but Hector’s supporters bore knowing smiles.
Whoooosh—!
Suddenly, jet-black Dark Element erupted from every opening. The output volume matched the intake rate.
The murmuring ceased instantly, and Aaron gave an approving nod.
“You’ve converted the discharge system.”
Hector nodded.
“Yes, I considered a method to unleash such force explosively all at once.”
“It deviates somewhat from the Durahan template, but it’s certainly an impressive engine. Well done. Full marks.”
“Thank you.”
Hector bowed respectfully. His friends rushed over excitedly, slapping his back and draping their arms around his shoulders.
“And next……”
Aaron walked toward Simon’s station.
“I clearly told you to construct a Discharge Mechanism, Simon Polentia.”
On Simon’s table sat the Night Terror he’d crafted earlier. Behind it, a tail of pure dark essence swayed and undulated.
“Yes, I’ve properly constructed the Discharge Mechanism as well.”
Yet upon closer inspection, the mechanism was fitted inside the Night Terror’s outer shell.
Aaron chuckled softly.
“Activate it.”
“Yes.”
Simon lifted the Night Terror and set it down gently on the snow.
“??”
The students behind him stepped forward with bewildered expressions. Simon opened his palm and activated the Magic Circle.
Whee-zing!
Light flared within the internal Magic Circle, and mana began to be drawn in through the gaps in the shell. Then—
Thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack-thwack-boom!
The Night Terror shot forward at tremendous speed, its dark essence tail whipping violently.
“Whoa!”
“How is that even moving?”
The students jumped back in alarm, scattering left and right. The Night Terror tore through the snow like a rocket and crashed directly into the fence.
Crunch—!
Even so, it continued thrashing its tail forward, emitting a high-pitched squealing sound.
“I converted mana into dark essence, then transformed that dark essence into propulsive force.”
‘…That’s outrageous.’
Aaron’s mouth curved upward.
Converting ‘propulsive force’ into ‘kinetic movement’—that would be the Durahan.
‘At least try not to run too far ahead of the curriculum, you genius.’
A moment later, there came the sound of the fence beginning to collapse with continued high-pitched squealing.

* * *
After the Practical Assessment extra credit concluded, the Teaching Assistants gathered all the students.
“I am an educator,” Aaron began.
He opened his mouth.
“But in a department with over fifty students, in-class instruction must be standardized, and learners inevitably adopt a passive stance toward knowledge acquisition.”
The students stood at attention in silence, listening intently to Aaron’s words.
“That is why, before teaching you about Durahans, I provided each of you with an opportunity to exercise your own creativity. Naturally, some students harbored complaints—”
A few students winced.
“I understand those complaints. But before imparting standardized knowledge, consider this: if I were the first person to create a Durahan, what would I have done? If I were truly the first, how would I have begun? I wished that even one millionth of the enlightenment those countless pioneers felt would touch each of you. To fail to provide such an opportunity and merely harden your minds with rote knowledge alone—that would be a dereliction of an educator’s duty.”
Simon nodded silently in agreement.
Whether failure or success, the result was secondary. Knowledge grasped and understood through one’s own inquiry—that alone was truly one’s own.
“Professor.”
The Head Teaching Assistant approached Aaron and whispered something in his ear. Aaron nodded.
“From this point forward, we shall begin the formal Durahan construction lecture. Students without demonstrated progress should follow along with all your effort. Those who have made progress should compare your results—which you believed were correct—against the actual knowledge as we proceed.”
“Yes, Professor!”

* * *
The special lecture ended only when evening fell.
The students, alternating between the Outdoor Practical Field and the Indoor Classroom, emerged at last with hollow, exhausted expressions.
“Mm?”
“What a delicious smell.”
The students shuffled forward with zombie-like strides, and there, in a large pot, a hearty meat stew bubbled invitingly.
“Wonderful!”
The serving began. Students lined up to receive their bowls of meat stew and bread, then settled nearby to eat.
Simon too lifted a spoonful of stew, blew on it gently, and tasted it.
‘Ah, I might actually survive this.’
In weather this cold, nothing compared to a warm bowl of stew.
“Hmm. The taste is fine, but isn’t dinner a bit meager for how grueling today’s schedule was?”
Esu spoke up suddenly.
“Meat! More meat! We’ve come all this way—they should at least let us have a camping barbecue!”
“We didn’t come here to have fun, Esu.”
Lorain sat composedly, dipping bread into her stew as she spoke. Esu pouted.
“W-well, of course, but still!”
“Listen while you eat.”
Aaron walked through the crowd of students and made his announcement.
“Tonight you’ll have no time to spare, so the teaching assistants have prepared meals for you. But starting tomorrow, you’ll need to fend for yourselves.”
Sighs of resignation rippled through the room.
Nothing about this was going to be easy.
“Tomorrow morning the special lecture starts early, so make sure you keep up and don’t fall behind. That’s all.”
With that, Aaron left. Team 10 immediately huddled together to discuss their predicament.
“What are we supposed to eat tomorrow?”
Simon asked. Esu laughed and crossed her arms.
“Hunt monsters, obviously. I heard there are plenty of those dinosaur creatures roaming around outside.”
Toto and Lorain’s faces went pale.
“Y-you’re really saying we have to eat that?”
“There’s barely any meat on them anyway—mostly just sinew.”
To keep pace with the grueling training schedule, proper meals and rest were essential.
At least they’d sorted out sleeping arrangements, but food remained a problem.
‘This is troublesome. If I account for hunting and cooking time, do I need to wake up before dawn?’
Simon closed his eyes, lost in thought, when—
“President!”
Esu nudged his arm playfully with a mischievous grin.
“I’ve got a brilliant idea!”
“What is it?”
She glanced around cautiously, then lowered her voice.
“What if we sneak down to the village tonight? I know where it is.”
Simon’s eyes widened.
‘A village? There’s a village nearby?’

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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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