Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner – 355



Chapter 355

As day turned to night Simon took out a book. He was planning on reviewing Curses for a bit before heading to sleep.

However…

“Let’s talk for a moment.”

Kajann called out to Simon.

Even if they weren’t in the dorm where he met Kajann was the same. On the rooftop of their accommodation Kajann was looking up at the night sky.

‘Come to think of it it’s also a full moon tonight.’

Simon approached him and asked

“Wanna grab some wine?”

“I’m fine I’m on a mission right now.”

As Simon flopped down next to him Kajann started

“I’ll get straight to the point. The reason I called you is…”

His eyes gleamed like a sharp edge.

“I have something to report regarding the mission.”

Simon gulped and nodded.

* * *

The next morning.

The time had finally come.

“Woah I’m so nervous!”

“My voice keeps on cracking. What should I do?”

The scheduled event for the morning was the thesis presentation of the first-year necromancer students.

Simon was leaning against the wall skimming through the script that he had written. Meanwhile Kajann had gone to pick up Serene as she was late.

“Whew~ Working hard here aren’t we Kizen?”

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A student in a green checkered uniform walked up to him and started talking.

Simon tried remembering him.

‘His name was Benz right? The first-year from Alland? I remember him trying to give a firm handshake.’

“Ah don’t raise your guard too much. Afterall today without any tricks…”

Fwish!

He spread out a thick stack of papers. His thesis.

“We’ll be competing purely with our summoning skills.”

If that was all the competition was completely welcome. Simon smiled brightly and said

“I’ll be looking forward to it Benz.”

“!”

At Simon’s words Benz’ face turned red perhaps embarrassed.

‘A-A student from Kizen remembered my name! What an honor…! No wait!’

He suddenly slapped his cheeks.

‘Don’t be happy over something like this! You forget yourself!’

Then he turned his head to look at his reflection in the nearby glass.

“Who am I?”

Muttering to himself he fixed his tie and grinned at his reflection.

“A proud student of Alland.”

“…”

Simon decided to pretend he didn’t see that.

“Anyway!”

Recharged with confidence Benz pointed at Simon’s chest.

“This year’s Pentamonium thesis presentation is the worst ever! Let’s both be careful!”

“Why is it the worst ever?”

“Heh. I guess you know nothing! Look over there!”

In the direction Benz pointed three judges were sitting.

“From the right It’s Calavan known as the Citation Hell. Then there’s Vintra the Thesis Ripper and last is La Toni the Proof Finder.”

“Wh-What?”

“They’re the most notorious judges in Pentamonium. Usually only one of them joins the panel but this year all three are gathered in one place.”

Benz rubbed his shoulders as if he was getting goosebumps.

“Yesterday was no joke either. The second-years from our school were all mentally crushed being told that they were worthless and to reconsider their futures. Some seniors were even crying pathetically in the accommodations.”

“…Is it that bad?”

“They’re demons that gnaw away on your confidence until there is nothing but bone.”

Having said that Benz sighed deeply.

“But we’ve just started our studies this year right? How much originality could you expect from students writing theses? This whole thing is designed for us to be get fucked.”

“Hmm.”

“So I prepared the most difficult terms and logic so the judges wouldn’t understand…”

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“What are you two doing?”

A pleasant melodious voice like a spring breeze interrupted them. Benz jumped turning around as he took a step back.

“Y-You are…!”

With her ivory hair fluttering with every step she slightly bent forward with a fox-like smile.

“Were you bullying Simon again?”

“N-No! I was just…!”

Benz couldn’t even speak properly his lips trembling.

She was as intense as the sun. It felt like trying to stare down that unstoppable light without any cover. Benz felt like a squid being roasted from head to toe.

Just making eye contact with her was humbling. Being in her presence felt uncomfortable. He felt like he should bow down to her or lie flat on the ground and crawl.

“Serene.”

At that moment Simon called out to her in a reprimanding tone.

“?”

As she turned her smiling face to Simon Benz finally felt the tension that was squeezing his chest ease up.

“I-I’ll excuse myself!”

Benz hurriedly ran down the stairs as if fleeing. Serene glanced at his back for a second and then asked

“What were you guys talking about?”

“Just about the thesis evaluation.”

“Serene Aindark this is your second warning.”

Kajann who had followed after her sighed and said so.

“If you use your power over something trivial again I’ll report it to the higher-ups and have you sent back to Roke Island.”

“That’s so unfair~ I didn’t do anything. I was just standing still!”

Serene pouted but Kajann ignored her out of habit.

Strangely Serene fiercely fought back if it was Lorain—the daughter of Nefthis—but she was somewhat obedient when it came to Kajann.

Simon guessed it might be because Kajann was also on her recruitment target list.

“Let’s sit down.”

And so the first-year thesis presentation began.

It started with Sierra. A first-year girl in a red uniform hesitantly looked over the audience.

“We haven’t even started but I already feel disappointed.”

Said Vintra the judge sitting in the middle known as the ‘Thesis Ripper’.

“The second-years were indeed the worst. None of them were noteworthy bar one.”

Replied Calavan the judge sitting on the right the ‘Citation Hell’.

“They’re terrible but we should still judge fairly without letting our emotions sway us. As professionals should.”

Said La Toni the Proof Finder the judge sitting on the left.

The judges were exchanging light jokes before the presentation began but in the eyes of the students it was no different from the conversation of demons.

Soon Vintra sitting in the middle announced with complete seriousness

“Please begin.”

“Y-Yes!”

The student projected a video with a mana crystal ball placed her hands on her chest and took a deep breath. Then she opened her eyes wide and looked at the judges.

“I’m Ellaria Lecrell a first-year summoning major in Sierra. My thesis topic is the habits and physiology of the swamp undead ‘dragon-bone demon’ and their usage.”

As soon as she finished speaking the three judges leaned on the back of their chairs with lukewarm faces. A disinterested attitude was already emanating from their every action.

The female student of Sierra was a bit flustered but continued her presentation without faltering.

“The dragon-bone demon is an undead primarily inhabiting swamps mainly found in the territory of the Kallos Kingdom. It’s about two to three meters not including its thirty-centimeter tail and its shoulder height is—”

“Move on.”

“Ah yes! I’m sorry! The dragon-bone demon is known to transform into an undead during the decomposition process of monster corpses submerged in the swamp. Especially when it comes to deeper swamps—”

“Move on!”

“Th-The dragon-bone demon is classified as a skeleton but restoration skills can’t be used due to its characteristics. Instead—”

“Move on!!!”

They didn’t even give the student a proper chance to speak. Her eyes began to tremble with anxiety.

However being a necromancer she made a bold move. She skipped 80% of the content and flipped straight to the back of the paper. There she talked about the information that would interest the judges.

“Please look at the screen. This is the summoning magic circle formula for the dragon-bone demon that I created in advance.”

Only then did the judges fix their postures.

“As you can see the core rune is ‘Requiem’. And the supporting formula for this is—”

“Wait a minute.”

Said Calavan the ‘Citation Hell’. Her eyes gleamed behind her glasses.

“I believe there’s already a thesis paper on creating the dragon-bone demon using the requiem rune. Can you please cite your sources?”

“M-My sources are…!”

As the female student was at a loss Calavan opened a subspace and manipulated a magic circle. Then several documents popped out.

She used magnifying magic to make them large enough for the audience to see.

“I can already find two papers even after just a simple search. [Assembly-centric modeling method for dragon-bone demon design] and [Summoning Analysis of the Requiem Rune]. So Ellaria what are the differences between these papers and yours?”

The audience began to clamor and Ellaria stammered

“O-Of course there are previous papers related to Requiem and the dragon-bone demon! But with the Candalle formula I adjusted the transformation rate and spin values to—!”

“Prove it.”

This time La Toni the Proof Finder stepped in.

“Provide a rational proof for why you think the Candalle formula fits with the design of dragon-bone demon.”

“A-Ah yes!”

She hurriedly wrote a few formulas on the board but La Toni scoffed.

“I can see that you forced your ideas into the existing thesis [Summoning Analysis of the Requiem Rune].”

“Wh-What?”

“I shall prove why the author of this thesis didn’t use the Candalle formula and instead opted for simple calculations.”

La Toni stood up and began writing formulas on the blackboard.

The student thesis presentation suddenly turned into a lecture.

An ironic situation where a judge was teaching the presenter. However no ordinary student could interrupt one of Pentamonium’s elders.

Even after being thoroughly demolished by La Toni the attacks continued.

“Why didn’t you cite the sources for the formulas?”

“That’s not how you handle a dragon-bone demon. Have you actually assembled the corpse of a dragon-bone demon before?”

“What on earth are they teaching the students in Sierra?”

The judges were like hyenas. They would latch onto any slight loose end and relentlessly scolded the presenter.

Anyone could tell from the student’s devastated face that her spirit was wavering.

“I will announce the result.”

Finally Vintra the Paper Ripper lifted the student’s thesis.

“Trash. Zero points.”

Then he began ripping the thesis in front of her eyes. Scattering the shredded pieces at her feet Vintra said in a cold tone

“Didn’t you think a little too lightly of Pentamonium? Did you think you could just mash a few things together like you’re making a chimera?”

“Please don’t think we’re being too harsh.”

Warned Calavan the Citation Hell.

“There was no preparation no dedication no thought. It was a recital of the obvious. You were the one who disrespected Pentamonium first.”

As the audience became silent the student’s head sank to her chest with the desperation of someone being convicted to a lifetime of prison and went down the stairs. Her friends rushed to comfort her and the tears she had been holding back finally burst like a broken dam.

‘This seems a bit too harsh.’

Simon watching from the audience frowned.

Of course Ellaria’s thesis did have shortcomings but it seemed unnecessary to drive a student who just started learning dark magic into this much of a corner.

Bang!

Vintra the thesis ripper slapped the table with his palm and declared

“We are having an extremely unpleasant start today! Next!”

* * *

As the turns passed by the mood in the conference hall became increasingly grim.

“Trash. Zero points. Next!”

The floor of the stage was littered with shredded paper.

“You call this a thesis? Do you think this is a school assignment?!”

“This is what I mean when I talk about the problem with a generation of peace! Back in my day when I was still a student I used to…!”

“Leaving all else aside I see no sincerity or courtesy. Is it not standard to understand the basic format for a Pentamonium thesis?”

The students who stepped onto the stage had their spirits ripped to shreds alongside their hard work. Sierra Alland and Moiran alike were all treated equally horribly.

At least…

“This is okay at least.”

A student from Moiran.

It was the one who had spoken about defeating Kizen in front of Simon yesterday. He had received a rather fine evaluation.

“It’s still quite lacking but it’s the best among these.”

“I mean are we expecting a lot? Just doing this much is enough for us to let it pass.”

For the first time he received his thesis back from Vintra without it being ripped.

Receiving some applause from the audience the student naturally looked at Simon smugness plastering his face.

“Now it’s their turn.”

Said Vintra the Thesis Ripper his arms crossed.

“Come up Kizen!”

——