Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

‘Uhuhhuh……’

Jessica couldn’t get up for a moment after falling to the floor along with the bones.

She was feeling embarrassed and ashamed.

She got impatient and was provoked by the opponent’s actions, and in the end, she ended up like this by engaging in Combat Magic. No. In fact, it must’ve all been induced by the opponent.

With all her skills blocked, all she could do was clench her fists and charge like a bull.

A complete defeat in both skill and the psychological warfare.

The gap in skill was that huge.

‘……So I’ll be placed on the lower squad now. Eh, I guess it’s better this way. The upper squad would be swarming with monsters like him.’

When she was letting out a deep sigh while finding the silver lining, Simon approached.

“Are you alright?”

He knelt down on one knee, smiled warmly, and held out his hand.

“……”

Jessica’s eyes flickered back and forth between Simon’s outstretched hand and his smiling face, her own face blank.

Then, suddenly…

A mass of emotions surged up, and tears formed in her eyes.

“Y-You……”

“?”

“You disrespectful bastaaaaaard!”

Screamed Jessica through her tears. Simon flinched and leaned his head back.

“You must think you’re the only smart person in the world, huh? The audacity to ignore your opponent! To still win the duel! And what, now you’re trying to be all nice at the end? You bastard!

“N-No. I just……”

“You’re the worst! Uwaaaah!”

She ran out of the stadium crying.

Simon looked at Jessica's back with rapt attention as she ran away for a moment.

“Mister.”

Then, the referee approached Simon.

“We need to proceed with the next duel, so please vacate the stadium now.”

“Ah, yes.”

With a sheepish face, Simon asked the referee while scratching his head,

“Uhmm, was I a bit too harsh a while ago?”

The referee laughed cheerfully as though Simon had said something ridiculous.

“It was very Kizen-like! It’s been a while since I saw a straightforward match like this! Haha.”

It was the first time that the term ‘Kizen-like’ felt this uncomfortable.

As Simon was about to head back, the female manager who was mopping the floor softly said,

“Honestly, it was a little bit too much.”

“……Haha.”

Simon covered his face with his palms.

He was so immersed in his situation that he couldn’t pay attention to the other person’s feelings at all.

‘……I guess I’ll have to apologize to her personally tomorrow.’

* * *

Now all that was left was the midterm exam.

The weekend especially was hell. After hearing Rick’s information, Simon started lining up at the library at 4am, but a massive line had already formed.

After waiting two more hours, the library door opened, and a huge bottleneck effect happened. Some students soared by stepping on jet-black or running across walls, and a few Necromancy aspirants passed through walls with their Ethereal Form.

Seats were filled in 20 minutes, and Simon managed to get a seat in the corner before it was too late.

And again, it was just study study study.

The library was open all day and all night during the exam period. You were able to concentrate on studying without thinking about anything else.

Because Simon was stuck in the library the whole time, the weekend passed like lightning, and the midterm exams started right away.

A total of 8 subjects were tested, and two subjects were tested per day, 2 hours being given for each subject.

“Number 2 for Question 8!”

“Number 2! Kyaaah! I got it right!”

“Hey, isn’t this Number 4? Resistance is created here, blocking the flow of mana, right?”

“You dumbass! Why would there be resistance if this is a direct formula?”

“Ack! Ah, I didn’t notice that it's a direct formula!”

Once a test was done, the students flocked to Meilyn or other smart students.

Simon saw himself getting interested without realizing it, but there was no time to grade himself.

He went back to the library. He had to study. Studying was the only way to live.

Everyone said that the exam period was hell, but it wasn’t that bad for Simon. Everyone was moving toward a single goal without caring about anything else.

There was no harming or interfering with anyone. It was just seeing your own growth and climbing up.

Simon liked this friendly atmosphere of competition.

And just like that…

“We… are… freeeeeeeeeeee!”

The Defense Against the Holy Arts and Combat Magic exams scheduled for the last day were over.

As soon as the bell signifying the end of the test rang, the students all gave broad smiles and pumped their fists.

Rick climbed onto the desk with a quill in his mouth, pulled up his shirt, and celebrated while half-shirtless, but he was flatly beaten up by Meilyn.

Everyone was going wild with the joy of liberation, but Simon quietly leaned his back against the chair and enjoyed the lingering feeling.

‘……I actually really did do my best.’

“Hey, hey. Simon.”

Meilyn approached while folding her hands behind her back.

“Did you do well on Summoning? I hope to still see you in Kizen, though~”

When she playfully asked that, Simon sighed.

“For real, if I could just go back to a month ago, I would hit myself hard in the head.”

“Hm?”

“I’ve realized how carefree my words were.”

To surpass Meilyn’s Summoning score of 85…

He thought he could simply get over that 10, but 10 points was a ridiculously large difference.

‘……Simon.’

Camibarez looked at Simon with a worried look.

If Meilyn won and forced Simon to walk out of school, she was planning to prevent it from happening, even if that meant begging to Meilyn.

Meilyn was also bewildered.

She started it as a joke, but why was he taking it so seriously?

“Don’t tell me you…… Did you screw your Summoning up? 

“Nah.”

Simon smiled.

“In the end, I’ll win.”

“Agh, what was that!”

Meilyn burst into laughter, and the mood brightened again.

While they were talking about where to go on the weekend and what to eat, Rick stuck his head out.

“I’m sorry to disturb you while you guys are planning, but I have an important issue. Wanna hear?”

“What is it?”

Rick looked around and made sure no one was listening, then said in a secretive tone,

* * *

* * *

“After this weekend is over, the whole first year may go to the island next week. Island Survival.

Meilyn’s face seriously stiffened at those words, and Simon and Camibarez looked at each other with puzzled eyes.

“What’s that?”

Rick let out a creepy smile and waved his fingers.

“It’s a project where they drop the entire first year on an island swarming with monsters and make them survive for 4 days. It’s also called the Island Survival assessment.”

“……F-For four days?”

Camibarez gripped her shoulders in horror.

“After entering the island, you have to take care of all food and shelter yourself, and you have to hunt monsters and earn points. You can even get points by fighting students. Naturally, as expected from Kizen, the students who rank the lowest are expelled.”

“Ah……”

Contrary to Camibarez trembling in fear, Simon’s eyes were shining.

“What’s with you this time?”

“No, uhm…”

Simon couldn’t hide the corners of his lips rising and continued to speak.

“That sounds hella fun, doesn’t it?”

“……Are you serious?”

“Yeah. A deserted island, camping, hunting, and surviving against monster attacks! Wow, I love it all.”

Simon had lots of experience like that in the rugged mountains of Les Hill.

On the other hand, Rick and Camibarez looked as though they couldn’t understand Simon in the slightest.

“By the way, are you sure about that information?”

Interrupted Meilyn.

“How do you even know about Kizen’s schedule?”

“Nah, nah.”

Rick waved his hand.

“Of course, it’s not 100%. It’s still in the speculation stage.”

“Speculation based on what?”

“First of all, the servants are secretly taking out tongue pads from the warehouse.”

The tongue pad was a device that students would wear on their arms when taking large-scale performance assessments such as Island Survival. With this, you could check your points and more.

“And I heard that, two days ago, all of the teleporting team at Kizen headquarters moved to the school and started working on a large-scale project, bringing in a lot of magic circle ingredients from Rochest. Some professors even made vacation reservations for next week. There’s obviously a class next week, but why a sudden vacation reservation? Isn’t it kinda obvious?”

Everyone was surprised by the quality of the plausible information. Rick crossed his arms and gave himself airs.

“Hehe, having this much strength in information is the basics for surviving the tough world!”

“Amazing! Rick, how do you know so many things going around in Kizen?”

After being filled with pride when Camibarez looked at him with admiration, Rick said,

“For confidentiality reasons, I can’t really share my core information route, but… Well, first of all, I try to be friends with all the servants of Kizen, you know? Even if they find me overwhelming at first, I follow around them, treating them like they’re my brothers and sisters, sometimes giving them pocket money or buying them meals, and even lending my name as a Kizen student at times.”

Simon nodded his head.

When he hung around with Rick, most of the servants talked comfortably with Rick, a Kizen student.

“Students from noble families think of servants as helpers, and they don’t really care, right? However, servants are the source of information.”

“Alright, alright. You’ve got such a big head.”

Meilyn turned her head and scoffed through her nose.

This time, Simon opened his mouth.

“So, what should we prepare if that performance assessment is happening?”

“Hm… I wonder. I believe we just have to power up like how we usually prepare for a Duel Evaluation. Oh, and…”

Rick cried out in a moment of genius,

“Survival skills!”

“Hm?”

“You know, those things like building a shelter, making a fire, skinning, carving the hunts, and identifying edible herbs.”

The faces of the two girls suddenly darkened.

“Th-That’s true. We might end up having to eat…… monsters.”

Meilyn, who was always full of confidence, showed herself faltering. Camibarez also had a pale complexion.

“……Can’t we just starve for a few days?”

“Do you think that’s as easy as it sounds? Plus, if you starve yourself, you won’t have strength, making it hard for you to resist the attacks of monsters and other students. You have to eat to survive.”

After understanding the situation, the two’s faces gradually darkened.

On the other hand…

“……Ah, it’s gonna be so much fun.”

Simon had a good complexion. The three of them looked at him like they couldn't understand Simon at all.

“This won’t do.”

Said Meilyn.

“I’m going down to Rochest to eat monster meat this weekend.”

Rick giggled.

“You think something will change if you eat those things sold in public? There’s a difference between the dishes prepared by the chefs and the ones eaten on the actual site.”

“Ah, whatever! My taste might change a little!”

“Now that you mention it…”

When Simon opened his mouth, everyone’s gazes gathered.

“Remember that meat soup we ate at Professor Hong Feng’s hut?”

“Ah! That one! That was super delicious!”

“It crosses my mind now and then.”

Simon grinned and continued.

“Actually, she told me that it was made from monster meat.”

The eyes of the three of them lit up.

“Hey!!”

Meilyn flew towards Simon and grabbed his collar, shaking him.

“Please try contacting Professor Hong Feng to teach us some tricks! The professor is especially fond of you!”

She shook Simon, her face pleading.

Simon said with a bitter smile,

“I don’t know if it’ll work or not, but I’ll try sending her a letter.”

“Y-You’re being serious, right?”

“I beg you, Simon!”

And the next day…

Hong Feng’s reply did actually arrive.

——