Chapter 32

Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

Chapter 32

After a long time, Simon got to take Aaron’s summoning class.

The topic of the class today was ‘restoration’. It was a class on destroying and restoring the Island Rat Man skeleton they made last time.

“The greatest strength of the skeleton is its restorative ability.”

Aaron, who—as usual—went to school in loose shorts with frizzy hair, raised his finger.

Swish!

Whoosh!

The bones scattered around the lecture room gathered in the air at a tremendous speed.

The skeleton assembled in the air landed on the floor in a span of a few seconds and even greeted them nicely, breaking loose cheers and applause from students.

“The principle of restoration isn’t hard. Even if the skeleton’s body is shattered by a strong impact, some residual jet-black remains on the bones.”

Aaron pulled out one of the skeleton’s bones with his hand.

“You just have to energize this jet-black to maximize the nature of the attraction to return to its original form.”

Then, when he loosened the grip of his hand, the bone flew away again and stuck to its original place like a magnet.

“Now, let’s begin the practice.”

Since the content of the class was about restoration, Simon happened to be ready for it.

While other students were practicing the restoration by separating the torso, arms, and legs, Simon succeeded in restoring the entire skeleton in one go.

Not only Meilyn, but Hector also had difficulties in restoration.

A field of thorough talent where you couldn’t reach 100% with practice and training alone. Simon was unrivaled in Class A in terms of skeleton restoration.

So Simon, who was always busy keeping up with the class, enjoyed the leisurely time. He was jotting down notes on his textbook because he still had some time left, even after accommodating Rick and Camibarez’s restoration.

“Hey, are you sure you can just loaf around like that?” 

Grumpily complained Meilyn.

Instead of answering her, Simon waved his hand in the air. The bones scattered on the desk were put together and completed the skeleton’s body.

“……P-Pretty good.”

Cat got Meilyn’s tongue just like that. Rick, who was sitting behind her, laughed gloatingly before going quiet when he was warned by an assistant teacher passing by.

“D-Don’t be so cocky just because you’re good at restoration!”

Said Meilyn, all guns blazing with her competitive spirit. She was the type of person who had to be 1st in every class to be satisfied.

“You said you’ll leave Kizen if you don’t surpass my Summoning score next month, right? If you think I’ll go easy because we’re in the same group, you’re hugely mist—!”

“Don’t worry. I’ll definitely surpass you.”

Answered Simon while resting his chin on his hand and flipping through the textbook.

She clenched her fists in frustration, but she wasn’t in a position to say anything to Simon, at least not in this restoration class.

“Sigh. If I had solved question 20, I’d have a score of 90s in summoning too……”

Hearing her talking to herself, Simon raised his head.

“Question 20? You mean the problem on the last page?”

“Yeah.”

“That was easy.”

Her middle of the forehead narrowed.

“……Hey. Why are you acting so arrogant all of a sudden? Are you better than me at Summoning?”

“Nope.”

“Then how did you solve question 20? Did you use the formula?”

“I don’t know such a thing.”

It made no sense.

Number 20 was a question to be solved by applying Theron’s formula. Meilyn, who got the problem wrong, went to Aaron directly to hear the explanation.

But Simon, who never had any prior learning, solved number 20 without knowing the Theron formula?

“What was your answer then?”

“1,200,146.”

Meilyn’s eyes widened sharply. The answer was 1,200,000 so he was practically correct.

“Spill it quickly! How the hell did you solve it?!”

“I combined the formulas I learned in Kizen as much as possible. Mmmm, I can’t explain it because I can’t remember exactly what the problem was.”

She bit her lip. She thought to herself that she’ll make sure to make a copy of the problem and make Simon solve it again.

As Meilyn became quiet, Simon’s attention shifted back to the textbook.

Introduction to Summoning had so much interesting content every time he read it. His heart pounded as he glanced at the new undead and dark magics to be dealt with in the future.

‘I wanna try making a golem as soon as possible. Would it be possible to learn it by myself if I buy the materials at Rochester?’

“Simon Polentia.”

Simon got startled and looked back at the voice that suddenly pierced through his ear.

“What are you doing right now?”

Aaron was looking down at Simon with a ferocious gaze.

Simon’s face turned white.

‘I got caught doing something else!’

There was no room for excuses since he was on a completely different page to the other students.

“Answer me.”

Aaron asked in a cold voice. He looked really angry, so Simon decided to be honest.

“Since the restoration was successful, I was looking at the topic of the next class for a while.”

Of course, Aaron knew that too.

After all, Simon was the only student in this class who succeeded in completing whole restoration in 10 seconds.

But, contrary to that, Aaron’s face gave a really menacing atmosphere. 

“Remain in the lecture room after the class.”

Aaron turned his back and left after saying those words. A deep fear entangled Simon’s body.

“S-Simon…… Don’t tell me you’re marked.”

Muttered Rick with a hardened face. Meilyn folded her arms while pouting her lips.

“I warned you, okay? About just loafing around like that.”

Even if she said so, she seemed worried, walking on eggshells when looking at Simon.

Of course, Simon couldn’t hear any of his friends’ voices.

* * *

* * *

The Summoning class ended.

It was time for him to eat dinner and return to the dorm to wrap up the day, but Simon had to remain in the lecture room.

In front of Simon, who was worried about what would happen to him in the empty lecture room, Aaron approached with his hands in his pockets.

“Follow me.”

The two left the lecture room. Simon sank his head to his chest and walked behind Aaron.

‘……I should’ve just kept practicing restoration.’

Aaron didn’t say anything.

Simon could accept any kind of reproach, as he was clearly at fault, but Aaron was treating Simon as if he didn’t exist. This silence was even more painful for Simon.

The two passed the building and entered an empty park. A spacious space surrounded by trees, with no one around.

“There is something I cannot stand.”

Aaron took out an old cigar from his pocket and put it into his mouth. When he snapped his finger, a spark splattered and ignited the cigar’s tip.

Aaron’s eyes turned serious after taking a sip of smoke. 

Simon felt himself shrinking even more and lowered his head.

“Students who have the will, but who are not learning in my class.”

“……What?”

“Take out your skeleton.”

What did that mean? Simon was confused, but he took out the skeleton from the subspace as instructed.

“Try restoring it in front of me.”

When Aaron snapped the opposite hand of the hand holding the cigar, the skeleton flew away with a popping sound.

Simon felt a headache and staggered as the connection was cut off, but he reflexively stretched out his right arm.

‘Restoration!’

“……Okay. I got that you’re unrivaled in the field of restoration. Then I’ll teach you the advanced techniques of restoration.”

Simon’s eyes widened. 

“W-Weren’t you planning to scold me?”

“This is an extra lesson.”

Said Aaron while taking the cigar out of his mouth and holding it in his fingers.

“I’m saying this just in case you perceive it wrong, but it’s also the professor’s job to provide additional classes to students who have exceeded the level of regular classes.”

Simon’s eyes were filled with tears from being touched so deeply.

“……Professor Aaron!”

“Hurry up and take your stance. Don’t waste my time even more.

“Ah, yes!”

Simon raised his concentration with a lit-up face, and Aaron took out a skeleton from his subspace.

‘Woah.’

It was a skeleton that looked much bigger and more sophisticated than Simon’s.

The bones were black and were more numerous and exquisite. It couldn’t be compared with the Island Rat Man. It had a red cape on its back and was carrying various weapons.

“It’s a skeleton made out of demon’s bone.”

“It’s so cool!”

A fine sword, gorgeous armor, beautiful horses. Simon was always placid in front of any riches or wealth, but he felt a tremendous desire to possess that skeleton. 

“I won’t show you twice, so watch carefully.”

Aaron snapped his fingers and broke the skeleton. Then, he raised his arm and pointed to a nearby tree.

Shake shake!

The bones scattered randomly on the floor shook and flew into the air.

Stab stab stab stab stab!

Hundreds of bones pierced the tree like a skewer.

“An offensive skill using restoration. Bone Piercing.”

You could see a squirrel gnawing on the fruit nearby and running away in surprise. Aaron swung his thin arms and pointed at the squirrel.

Wooooosh!

Bones that flew like beams of light tightly shut around the squirrel.

“A binding skill using restoration. Bone Prison.”

The prison flew upward and scattered when Aaron raised his index finger up. The squirrel ran away in the meantime.

“Lastly.”

Aaron clenched his fist. This time, the skeleton bones scattering in the sky flew towards Aaron’s body.

Click!

Clack!

Aaron’s body started to be covered with bones. It was as if he was changing into a suit made of bones.

The empty fittings started to piece together, jet-black flowed out of the empty space between the bones, filling it up like a fiber, and a red cape was placed on its back. Finally, the skull of the skeleton covered Aaron’s head like a helmet.

“A defensive skill using restoration. Bone Armor.”

“Woah……!”

A shiver ran down Simon’s spine. Aaron’s appearance when wearing a skeleton was truly dazzling.

‘It’s so cool!’

Aaron stretched out his right arm. Then, his armor was taken off like a living garment, and it returned to the form of a skeleton down on one knee.

“A skeleton can be a weapon, a prison, or an armor depending on the Necromancer’s capabilities. These are all dark magics that apply restoration. Did you understand?”

Simon nodded his head frantically.

“Of course, these restoration techniques can be learned in 2nd year…… But you’re excellent in learning restoration. I’ll arrange it a little and teach you how to use it.”

“Th-Thank you!”

“For now, the only technique you could at least imitate would be bone piercing. Get ready.”

Aaron once again made Simon perform restoration and analyzed it.

“So you start the restoration by putting the skull as the center.”

“Yes.”

“Correct that habit from this moment on. The key is to induce the skeleton to go in the desired direction. I’ll give you a tip.”

Simon could understand Aaron’s explanation immediately, as he had the experience of training his determination with the help of Pier.

‘Gather in front of me!’

After several trials and errors, the scattered skeleton bones gathered in front of Simon. Of course, the speed of the subsequent bones were determined by the speed at which the skull, the core of the skeleton arrived, but for now, it was a great result just to be able to perform a restoration from a distance.

“Restoration and bone piercing are completely different skills. Think of it as an application of the power of restoration, but a completely different skill.”

“Develop a habit of tilting your bones to the side when you’re calling it with restoration. That way, the sharp part will pierce the enemy’s flesh.”

“If you focus the-jet black that stays on your bone in one direction, you can turn it like a sharp knife. For the bones without a proper place to stab, you can just place the bones on the target’s body with a feeling of attaching it onto them. That alone has a significant binding effect on the opponent.”

Simon absorbed Aaron’s teachings like a sponge. Then, he went straight to the actual training.

Thump thump thump thump!

Skeleton bones were attached to the nearby bamboo. The sharp edges of the bones pierced through the wood, and the other bones stuck like magnets.

‘Restoration!’

As Simon clenched his fist in that state, the bones compressed the bamboo more and more.

And finally,

Clench!

He succeeded in breaking the bamboo.

“Let’s go!”

Simon clenched his fists tightly and shouted delightfully.

He was able to learn a new skill in only a few hours.

‘Ahhh, I’m so happy!’

A huge sense of accomplishment made his whole body tremble.

It was indeed an addictive sensation, like a drug.

——