Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

"As expected from someone with giant in his blood! Chatelle Maerre, The S.A.3 is just charging forward without care for subtlety or dodging!"

The excited crowd cheered Chatelle's name over and over again. Getting swept up in the mood, the MC turned to Belya and said,

"Professor! Just like the last stage, he's just as overwhelming this time! He's like a living chariot! I wonder what kind of dark magic that is?"

"You idiot! How could that be dark magic?"

Belya smirked, resting her head in her hands.

"That's just an innate stuff. A giant's physical constitution doesn't allow mere weapons to hurt them. It makes me laugh to look at bastards boasting their dark spells passed down through generations and calling it a bloodline."

Pointing to the screen, Belya concluded,

"That right there is what you call a bloodline."

"Ahh, how unbelievable! Is he really human?! He broke through the second stage and pressed the red buzzer! Chatelle! Keep this up, and you'll be the first to pass the third stage!"

Stages 1 and 2 took a while for most to get through as students dismantled traps and learned the timings of the arrows, but the real show was in stage 3.

Trap-disarming skills were useless here.

It tested purely one's defense and stamina. It plunged the students into the deep end, not being able to rely on tertiary skills to pass.

"Ohh! As we're speaking, Ms. Meilyn Villenne has entered the main room of stage 3!"

The main screen in front of the spectator stands cut to Meilyn's attempt.

She had magic circles drawn on her feet and hands, and as she sprinted forward, she reached up toward the ceiling. Giant blocks of ice streamed from her open hands, filling the large gap between her and the roof.

Weapons that were supposed to come out from the ceiling were interrupted by her ice, and in the meantime, Meilyn was skating through stage 3 using the spells at her legs.

She cleared it in no time.

"Ooooh! Her use of jet-black elemental ice magic is phenomenal! It's like seeing the second coming of the Great Mage era! That's the Ivory Tower for you!"

"She's pushing herself too far."

Blurted out Belya.

"She won't be able to keep that up for even two minutes. She's using all her jet-black reserves here as if the next trial won't be even harder. I bet she's going to be knocked out at the fourth stage."

"Is that so?! We'll see if you're right, Professor! Oh, and as I speak, there's another one coming! A man from a draconic family as great as the Ivory Tower! It's Hector Moore!!"

Hector, coated in the bones of a corpse dragon and completely covered in scales, was sprinting on all fours.

The breath from his Bone Armor bombarded the ceiling, shattering the weapons before they could fall. He then sent a skeleton to lure out the next set of weapons and repeated the process, either with his devastating breath attack or by unleashing a powerful curse.

"That's good."

Belya made a contented smile.

"He's using the skeletons to locate the traps and alternating between his breath attack and the corrosive curse. That's more efficient than the strategy we just saw Meilyn use."

"But Professor! Isn't defense and stamina the key to this test in the first place? How could such an aggressive style be best?"

"He's the type who uses extreme offense to crush his opponent, and while that type is generally less efficient, he can still perform well on this test."

Everyone was making their way through the third stage, utilizing their own unique strengths.

"But the student who blitzed through the first and second stages faster than anyone else hasn't even taken a single step in the third stage!"

Shouted the MC, and Simon's image appeared on the main screen.

"It looks like he's preparing some kind of dark spell, but it's already been half an hour! The other students have overtaken him and are well on their way to the fourth stage!"

The crowd members who had either been expecting the S.A.1 to win or were betting on him booed and jeered. The MC looked at Belya in bewilderment.

"Professor! What are your thoughts on this?"

Belya, looking at Simon preparing his spell, pouted and sullenly resigned,

"I'm sure he can take care of himself."

"What?"

"Let's move on to the next one!"

* * *

"Pant, pant."

Simon gasped for air. He realized that half an hour had already passed without any visible progress.

'Professor Aaron was right.'

Aaron had taught him a new skill, 'blood golem', but recommended he keep it sealed until his second year.

His reason was that it would take too long and it would be a serious drain on his stamina.

Aaron warned that the current Simon might collapse before he could finish the spell.

However,

'Of all the necromancer skills I know, there's none better for this situation than blood golem.'

Simon decided to take the plunge and create the blood golem he had rushed to learn.

Vision blurring as blood drained from his body, he took out a vial of 'blood potion', a must-have for Hemomancy students, and took it to his mouth. This was his fifth bottle.

Pier watched him steadily.

'This kid has a tendency to overdo things.'

But even with all that overreaching, he hadn't failed once so far. Everything had worked out in the end, sometimes even if it was a miracle he survived. But this time, when it came to a raw test of stamina, he hit a real wall.

Will Simon taste failure for the first time, or will he surpass this trial? It all depended on him.

'Pant… Pant….'

Simon's vision spun. Drinking blood potions was no longer enough, and his body couldn't take it anymore.

'…It won't work at this rate.'

Simon staggered to his feet and brought his hand to his forehead.

'This won't do.'

Shatter!!!

Simon broke Walter's magic circle in his right hand, and he conjured a new one.

'I know how dangerous it is to interfere with a magic circle, but you can't grow if you're afraid of risk.'

Just like the time he created the evasive Exhaust in the Curses class, he decided to alter another magic circle.

The theory wasn't difficult. Walter's {Cloud} magic circle had a 4:6 ratio of jet-black to blood.

He was going to change that ratio to 6:4 ratio of jet-black. He didn't necessarily have to follow Walter's ratio if he was confident in his control over the cloud.

'I already have the core and basic structures formed! Just the remaining surface…!'

Simon's ecosystem of a spell evolved into something new.

'Lighter!'

The resulting cloud was lighter in color, stickier, and slightly wet. It gathered around the golem core and formed limbs, but they were flimsy and it didn't seem to be able to walk easily.

But that was enough.

'Because I won't break through with the blood golem!'

Finally, a sufficient amount of the Cloud covered the golem's core, and the dark magic inside was activated.

A majestic golem, three meters tall, rose to its feet.

It was a mint green, oozing creature with turquoise swirls throughout it. It was far from the stereotypical red blood golem.

Now for the finishing touches. Simon drew a magic circle on his chest identical to the one on the golem's core.

Piiinnnnnggggg!

The two magic circles began to synchronize. Simon took a deep breath and looked at the obstacles in the third stage.

[So you chose to walk off the beaten path!]

Pier's clone smirked.

[Wasn't your plan to tank the attacks with the blood golem and then climb on to bolt to the end after getting halfway through? What are you going to do now?]

Simon popped the cap off the last blood potion, chugged it down, and stared straight ahead.

'I'll run with my own two feet.'

[Kuhahahahahahahahaha!]

Pier's loud laughter erupted from inside Simon's head.

[As expected! You're the craziest human I've ever met!]

* * *

* * *

"Ohh, how incredible! S.A.10 Malcolm Randolf! His control in dispersing the weapons with his doppelgangers is impressive!"

Enthusiastically exclaimed the MC while Belya, sitting next to him, rested her chin in satisfaction.

"Isn't that supposed to be a stationary spell? Ah, yeah. It is. But he modified it so that he could carry it and run with it. He does show some signs of genius."

The MC nodded, deciding to pause on Malcolm for a bit longer instead of moving on to the next student to talk about something the crowd might be interested in.

"Recently, he's been the target of controversy for using a 'liquid bomb' in a Duel Evaluation with the S.A.1! Apparently, all those cases of unsolved explosions that the Randolph gang vehemently denied are now reopened for investigation! What are your thoughts on this, Professor?"

Belya burst out laughing.

"Seriously? If that is true, he totally suckered his dad! He's gonna be beaten up so bad if he can't graduate after causing all that mess!"

"Ah, and now! That same S.A.1, frozen for half an hour, started moving!"

The main screen flashed back to Simon. He had succeeded in creating a mint-green golem, but he left it and suddenly started running on his own.

"What! He spent half an hour building a golem, then abandoned it and headed off to Stage 3 on his own!"

The MC jumped off his feet in excitement.

The crowd began to get rowdy as well.

"I wonder if he just rushed in because his summoning failed? What a waste of time and jet-black to just leave it there! Especially after using so much hemomancy and downing all those blood potions! Professor, what are your thoughts on this?"

Belya shook her head.

"I don't know much about summoning, but from what I can tell, it looks like he failed to create the golem he wanted to. In the end, he gave up, and now he's trying to break through himself."

"It 'looks like he failed'?! Do you think Mr. Simon has something else up his sleeve?"

"Yeah, he's a smart bastard. I'm sure he has something planned."

Dash!

Simon ran frantically, dodging hundreds of weapons as they rained down on him.

As jet-black began to drip from his sweaty body, the MC shouted,

"Ahh! It's Jet-Black Eruption!! If he could use such an advanced Combat Dark Magic technique, why didn't he just use it to break through from the start?!"

"You really don't know what you're talking about, do you?"

The MC flinched at Belya's sharp comment.

"Didn't you see what happened to those Combat Dark Magic aspirants earlier? The ones who tried to overcome it with their speed ended up getting caught up by the weapons, while the ones who hardened their bodies, or at least somewhat imitated the famous Combat Dark Magic robe, got through. Speed alone can never break through the third stage. It's a trap designed specifically with that in mind."

Stab!

A faint impact sounded on the screen as soon as Belya finished her comment. All eyes turned to the main screen.

"…!"

A spear flew in and stuck into Simon's shoulder. Horrified screams erupted from all over.

"It's over!"

"I know something was off when he suddenly started making golems!!"

"He was a little too ordinary for an S.A.1…"

Nonetheless, Simon gritted his teeth and continued to run, spear still stuck to his arm. After a few more steps, two arrows shot out and pierced deep into his thigh.

"Owww, that's gonna hurt."

"It's really over."

"Stop and disqualify him already! Are you going to kill him for this test?"

Ignorant to the cacophony of shouting from the crowd, Simon kept on running.

He was slashed by swords, pierced by arrows, and hit in the head by a mace. His forehead was dripping with blood, but he never stopped running.

It's the end…

It's over…

There was no way he could stay standing.

Amidst all the mockery, pessimism, and cynicism, Simon stood tall and ran. Time and time again, he betrayed the crowd's expectations and survived.

Before anyone realized it, the crowd had fallen silent, and even the talkative MC had his jaw dropped to the ground, unable to continue his narration.

"…Why?"

In the silence, someone's voice could be heard.

"Why is he the only one not falling down?"

The mood was shifting in favor of Simon.

"Of course, of course."

By now, Belya was leaning back with a delighted look on her face.

"There's no way a necromancer would go out on the battlefield without any insurance."

Thud!

Crush!

Pshk!

No matter how fast you were, the trap was designed to inevitably hit the student. It was only a matter of time before Simon allowed himself to be attacked as his exhaustion built.

However, he wouldn't go down.

He didn't give up.

Simon kept charging forward, taking every attack head on.

"Oh! Ohhh!"

"Keep going! Keep going!"

Simon was proving it with his actions.

The mockery and cynicism were gone, replaced by excitement.

"He's moving again!"

"Waaaaaaaah!"

"He's crazy! He's not falling down!"

The shift was slow but obvious, and soon even Simon's biggest doubters were cheering his name.

And finally…

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!

Covered in blood, Simon pressed the red buzzer heading to stage 4.

Simon was still standing as countless weapons hung from his body.

As the crowd gawked at the unbelievable sight, the screen moved to a close-up of Simon's face.

He was smiling.

As he clenched his fist and raised it vigorously into the air…

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!"

Explosive cheers erupted from the entire stadium.

——