Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 72

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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 Prodigy of the Necromancer School – Episode 72
‘Ugh… hngh…’
Jessica lay sprawled on the ground amid the bones, unable to rise for a moment.
Mortified. Utterly humiliated.
She’d let her opponent’s taunts get under her skin, lost her composure, and forced a Magical Combat duel—only to end up like this. Though in truth, he’d probably orchestrated the whole thing from the start.
With every technique shut down, all she could do was clench her fists and charge in like a moth to flame.
Outmatched in skill.
Destroyed in the mind game.
The gap between them was simply that vast.
‘Well, I guess I’m headed to the lower squad. Maybe that’s for the best. The upper levels must be crawling with monsters like him.’
As she lay there rationalizing her defeat with heavy sighs, Simon approached.
“Are you all right?”
He dropped to one knee and offered his hand with a gentle smile.
“…”
Jessica stared blankly, her eyes flickering between his extended hand and his smiling face.
Then, suddenly—
A flood of emotions swept over her, and her eyes burned hot with tears.
“You… you…”
“?”
“You conceited jerk! You think you’re the only one worth anything?!”
Jessica’s voice cracked as she shrieked at him. Simon flinched, jerking his head back.
“You look down on people! You win matches! And now you’re trying to play the good guy on top of it all? You’re a horrible person!”
“No, I… I was only…”
“You’re even worse! Waaahhh!”
She sobbed and bolted from the arena.
Simon stood dazed, watching her disappear.
“Student.”
The referee approached.
“We need to move on to the next match. Please clear the arena.”
“Ah, yes.”
Looking embarrassed, Simon scratched his head sheepishly. “Um… was I perhaps a bit too harsh just now?”
The referee laughed warmly, as if the question made no sense. “Typical of Kizen, I’d say! Haven’t seen such an exhilarating bout in ages! Ha-ha.”
Simon had never felt so uncomfortable hearing those words.
As he turned to leave, a female arena attendant cleaning the floor spoke up quietly.
“It was a bit much, though.”
“…Ha-ha.”
Simon covered his face with his palm.
He’d been so absorbed in his own situation that he’d completely ignored how his opponent felt.
‘I should go apologize to her personally tomorrow.’

* * *

The weekend had been pure hell. After hearing about it from Dick, Simon had shown up at the Library at 4 a.m., only to find crowds already lined up. He waited another two hours before the doors opened, and the bottleneck that ensued was brutal. Some students launched themselves upward using the Shadow Aura technique, others sprinted up walls, and a few Spirit magic aspirants even phased through them using Spirit Form. The seats were gone within twenty minutes, but Simon managed to snag a corner spot just in time.
Then came the studying. Studying. Nothing but studying.
The Library stayed open twenty-four hours throughout exam week. There was nothing to distract him—only the material before him.
Practically living there, the weekend flew past, and the Midterm Exam began without warning.
Eight subjects total, two per day, two hours each.
“Question 8, choice 2!”
“Number 2! Yesss! Got it!”
“Wait, isn’t that 4? The resistance there blocks the mana flow, doesn’t it?”
“Idiot! It’s a direct circuit—where would the resistance come from?”
“Oh! I didn’t notice it was direct!”
After each exam, students swarmed around Merin and the other top performers, comparing answers.
Simon’s ears perked up against his will, but he had no time for informal grading.
Back to the Library. He had to study. Studying was survival.
Everyone called exam week a nightmare, but Simon didn’t see it that way. Here, everyone abandoned distractions and pursued a single goal together.
It was a kind of purity.
And it didn’t feel bad at all.

To climb forward, looking only at my own growth, without harming or hindering anyone else.
Simon liked this atmosphere of good-natured competition.
And so.
“Free-dom-at-last!”
The final exam slot—Holy Defense Studies and Magical Combat—had just wrapped up.
The moment the bell rang signaling the end, every student burst into radiant smiles, throwing both arms skyward in celebration.
Dick clamped a Quill Pen between his teeth, clambered onto a desk, yanked his shirt up to bare his belly in a victory pose, and caught a sound thrashing from Merin without hesitation.
While everyone else writhed in the joy of liberation, Simon sat quietly against the back of his chair, savoring the lingering warmth of the moment.
‘I really did give it everything,’ he thought.
“Hey, hey. Simon.”
Merin approached with her hands clasped behind her back.
“Did you do well on Summoning? I’d love it if you could stick around at Kizen~”
At her playful question, Simon let out a sigh.
“Honestly, if I could just go back a month, I’d punch myself in the head.”
“Huh?”
“I realize now how reckless the things I said were.”
He’d beaten Merin’s Summoning score of eighty-five points.
He’d thought ten points or so would be enough to overtake her, but those ten points turned out to be an impossibly wide gap.
‘Simon,’ Kamibarez thought, watching him with concern in her eyes.
If Merin won and forced Simon to withdraw, she’d made up her mind to beg Merin for forgiveness, if that’s what it took to prevent disaster.
And Merin herself was equally taken aback.
She’d started this as a joke—why was he taking it so heavily?
“You didn’t… bomb Summoning, did you?”
“No.”
Simon broke into a grin.
“But the conclusion is still that I’ll win.”
“Ah—what!”
Merin burst out laughing, and the mood brightened again.
As they discussed where to go over the weekend and what to eat, Dick suddenly poked his head forward.
“I’m sorry to interrupt everyone’s plans, but there’s something important. Want to hear it?”
“What is it?”
Dick glanced cautiously around, checking that no one else was listening, then spoke in a hushed voice.
“After this weekend ends, next week the entire first year might be heading to an island. Island Survival.”
At those words, Merin’s expression grew grave, while Simon and Kamibarez exchanged puzzled glances.
“What is that?”
Dick smiled with an unsettling edge, his fingers wiggling expressively.
“They’re dropping the whole first year onto an island crawling with monsters, and you have to survive for four days. It’s also called the Island Survival Evaluation.”
“…F-four days?”
Kamibarez shuddered visibly, rubbing her shoulders.
“Once you’re on the island, you handle all food and shelter yourself, hunt monsters, and rack up points. And the twist—students can team up and steal points from each other. Naturally, Typical of Kizen, the bottom performers get expelled.”
“Ah…”
While Kamibarez trembled with dread, Simon’s eyes were gleaming with excitement.
“Why are you making that face?”
“No, well.”
Simon couldn’t hide the upward curve of his lips as he continued.
“That sounds incredibly fun.”
“…Are you serious?”
“Yeah. A deserted island, camping, hunting, fending off monster attacks—survival itself! I really love stuff like that.”
Simon had gained plenty of experience with that kind of ordeal in the harsh mountain ranges of Reshill.
Meanwhile, Dick and Kamibarez wore expressions of complete incomprehension.
“But Dick. You’re sure about that information?”
Merin interjected.
“How do you even know Kizen’s schedule?”
“Ah, well.”
Dick waved his hand dismissively.
“It’s not a hundred percent certain, obviously. Right now it’s just speculation.”
“Based on what?”
“Servants have been quietly pulling Tung Pads out of the storage house in secret.”
A Tung Pad was a device students wore on their wrist during major practical assessments like Island Survival, where points and other metrics could be tracked.

“And for the past two days, the entire teleportation team from Kizen Headquarters has been at the school running a massive operation. They’ve brought in huge quantities of Magic Circle Materials from Rochester. I heard some professors even booked vacation time for next week? Next week there are classes scheduled, so why would they suddenly take time off? The answer’s obvious, isn’t it?”
Everyone’s expression shifted to one of astonishment at the quality of this plausible information. Dick straightened up, his arms folded across his chest.
“Heh heh, in this cutthroat world, you need at least this much information-gathering ability just to survive!”
“That’s amazing, Dick! How do you manage to know everything that happens at Kizen?”
As Kamibarez looked at him with admiration, Dick’s chin lifted higher.
“Well, I can’t really divulge my core information sources—they’re classified. But the thing is, I make it a point to befriend every single servant at Kizen, yeah? Even if they’re wary of me at first, I keep tagging along, calling them older brother or sister, and I’ll slip them some spending money or buy them meals sometimes. Plus, as a Kizen student, I lend my name when they need it.”
Simon nodded in agreement.
Whenever he went around with Dick, most of the servants did tend to drop their formality and treat him with remarkable ease.
“The truth is, other noble-born kids treat servants like hired hands or assistants—they barely pay attention. But servants are really the root source of all information.”
“Yeah, yeah. You’re quite the operator.”
Merin turned her head away with a dismissive snort.
This time Simon spoke up.
“So, if that Practical Assessment is real, what should we be preparing?”
“Hmm, well. I’d say we should just train at full power the way we normally do for Duel Evaluations. Oh, and—”
Dick smacked his knee.
“Survival Skills!”
“Huh?”
“You know, like building shelter, starting fires, butchering game. Identifying edible herbs.”
Both girls’ faces darkened rapidly.
“Right… we might have to eat monsters or something.”
Merin, who was always brimming with confidence, suddenly looked shaken. Kamibarez’s complexion grew ashen.
“…Couldn’t we just go a few days without eating?”
“It’s not that simple. Besides, if you’re just starving, you’ll run out of strength to defend yourself against monsters or other students. You have to eat if you want to survive.”
As both girls grasped the situation, their faces grew progressively darker.
Simon, on the other hand.
“…Man, this is going to be fun.”
His face was radiant with excitement. The three others stared at him in complete bafflement.
“This won’t do.”
Merin declared.
“This weekend, we’re going down to Rochester to eat monster meat.”
Dick chuckled.
“Eating the stuff they sell in shops won’t change anything. There’s a world of difference between what chefs prepare and what you eat in the field.”
“Oh, whatever! At least it’ll adjust my palate a little!”
“Come to think of it.”
As Simon spoke, all eyes turned toward him.
“Remember that meat soup we had at Hong Peng’s Cabin back then?”
“Oh! That one! That was so delicious!”
“I think about it sometimes.”
Simon grinned and continued.
“Turns out that was made from monster meat.”
All three pairs of eyes flew wide open.
“Hey!!”
Suddenly Merin lunged forward, grabbing Simon by the collar and shaking him.
“Contact Hong Peng! Please! Ask him to teach us his secret recipe! He especially likes you anyway!”
She shook Simon pleadingly, her eyes wide with desperation.
Simon let out a wry laugh.
“I don’t know if it’ll work, but I can try sending a letter.”
“Really?”
“Please, Simon! We’re begging you!”
And the very next day.
Hong Peng’s reply arrived.

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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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