Necromancer Academy and the Genius Summoner-Chapter 316: Episode

Simon and Kamibarez teleported back to Kizen. Students who had arrived before them were already lined up, waiting for their evaluations. Simon and Kamibarez took their place at the end of the line.

’Looks like everyone had a rough time,’ Simon mused, taking in the state of his peers.

Not a single person was unscathed. The students, all returning from fierce battles, had brought back a diverse array of venomous monster corpses: dead poison toads, giant moths, spiders, and even a massive water serpent. The students directly in front of them had a centipede monster so terrifying that Kamibarez immediately hid behind Simon.

The line moved quickly, and soon it was their turn. Professor Byulya and her teaching assistants gasped in unison at the sight of the colossal centipede.

"That’s immense!" Byulya exclaimed.

Other students gathered around to get a better look. "Well done! How did you manage to catch this thing?"

A male student from the pair stepped forward. "First, we provoked it into spitting its venom, then we retreated. While it was distracted, my partner collected the venom and created an antidote. After that, we fought and won."

"Clever," Byulya noted with approval.

The TAs were busy examining the antidote. After dropping both the centipede’s venom and a sample of the antidote onto a piece of paper, one of them whispered to the professor. "Hmm! The antidote checks out. If the video confirms their story, they’re guaranteed at least an A."

"Thank you!" the students shouted, cheering as they threw their arms around each other.

They pulled apart a moment later, blushing at their spontaneous celebration.

Byulya chuckled, shaking her head in disbelief. "You little rascals are something else. Now, head straight to the dorms, no detours, you hear?"

"W-We won’t!"

Boisterous laughter echoed through the area. As the first students to receive an A-rank departed, they drew a wave of envious stares.

"Alright, next!" the head TA called out, flipping through the file in her hand. "Simon Polentia and Kamibarez Ursula... Huh?!"

The crowd erupted as Simon dragged forward a pair of Desert Scorpions, one in each hand. The TAs stared in shock, and even Professor Byulya shot to her feet.

"Why are these Desert Scorpions so massive?" one of the TAs exclaimed.

"And he caught two of them!" another added.

The reaction was promising. It seemed they had brought back something far larger and stronger than Byulya’s team had anticipated.

"Aren’t they normally this size?" Simon asked innocently.

"Usually, they’re about half this big," Byulya replied, her eyes wide. "Did you two get hurt catching these?"

"Well... we came close to dying, I suppose," Simon admitted with a relaxed smile.

Beside him, Kamibarez squeezed her eyes shut, as if the memory alone was too terrifying to bear.

The TAs lifted the pincers and tails, examining the remains. Even in death, it was clear how formidable the creatures had been. A few TAs approached with tools to collect venom samples, proceeding with extreme caution. Seeing their hesitation, Byulya stood up.

"That’s enough. I’ll taste it myself."

She leaned down and licked the venom smeared on the scorpion’s carcass. Then, she took the vial containing Kamibarez’s antidote, dipped a finger inside, and touched it to her tongue. She swallowed, smacking her lips thoughtfully.

"Oh! This is well made!"

"Thank you, Professor!" Kamibarez chirped, bowing her head deeply.

No kit in the world could analyze venom as accurately as Byulya’s tongue.

She grinned, revealing a set of sharp, triangular teeth. "You both worked hard. That’s an A+."

"Woohoo!"

Simon and Kamibarez let out cries of joy and hugged each other tightly. The TAs exchanged glances that clearly said, ’Here they go again.’

"...Hey," one TA muttered to the head TA.

"I know," she sighed, feeling the sting of her own single status. "If I make the next performance evaluation a couples’ event, I’m not even human."

Still, a warm smile spread across her face as she watched the two genuinely happy students. "Well done! Return your necklaces and head on in!"

"Yes, ma’am!"

---

Having proudly secured the highest grade, Simon and Kamibarez decided to wait for Meirin and Dick instead of heading straight to the dorms.

Meirin and Toto, despite the chaos they had caused, had received a respectable B+.

"...Toto?"

In just half a day, however, Toto was staggering around looking like a walking skeleton.

"S-Simon," he rasped, his voice barely a whisper as he approached. "How did you survive with Meirin all this time? It’s impossible for me..."

"Hey!" Meirin shouted, her face flushing crimson. "You were talking behind my back again, weren’t you!"

The moment Toto saw her, he cowered like a rabbit cornered by a predator.

Simon chuckled. "Isn’t Meirin nice?"

"Sh-She is, but... she has a way of... driving a person to their absolute breaking point..."

"R-Really? She’s never like that with me."

Toto started to say, ’That’s because you’re—’ but clamped his mouth shut as Meirin ran up from behind and gave him a sharp flick on the head.

Dick and Catherine’s team emerged next with a C+, placing them squarely in the middle of the pack. Catherine was complaining to her teammates about how difficult it had been, but Dick was all smiles as he stretched his arms wide.

"Ah, that was fun! I wish every evaluation was like this!"

Seeing the starkly different reactions of Toto and Catherine, the other students shook their heads.

"So Simon and Kami were the ones keeping them in check."

"I guess so."

"I hope those two never leave Group 7."

"You wanna die?!" Meirin, her face beet red, charged at them in retaliation.

A fresh wave of boisterous laughter filled the air.

---

And so, the Venomology evaluation came to a safe conclusion. After a good night’s rest, Simon entered the library early the next morning with his textbooks tucked under his arm.

He had recently developed a habit of waking up early, and entering the nearly empty library felt like a novel experience.

"Alright," he murmured, settling into his favorite spot surrounded by bookshelves.

He opened his Cursology textbook, ’The Curses of Bahil’. He had already mastered ’Indolence’, the curse of painlessness, and ’Hostil’, the curse of animosity. He only needed two more to use ’Compellonia’.

Just as Simon took out his quill to study the next curse, a shadow fell over him.

’Ugh.’

An unwelcome figure had appeared in the library. Simon quickly ducked his head and held up a book to hide his face.

’...Professor Walter.’

Walter was surrounded by a group of female students, chatting amiably. He had become a professor on Silage’s recommendation, filling in while the other was away on an important mission. He led his classes with a skill that was unbelievable for a new professor. With his fallen-leaf brown hair, sculpted features, perfectly fitting horn-rimmed glasses, and a gentle, friendly demeanor, he had quickly won over the student body. As Simon could see from the adoring looks of the girls around him, Walter approached students with more warmth than any other professor, building a thick layer of trust.

’Hmmmm.’

Of course, Simon found him suspicious in many ways, but he did his best not to show it. After all, Walter was the one who had given him the Cloud technique developed by Silage and had even offered him direct discipleship.

’Maybe I’m just being paranoid.’

"You’re very diligent, to be here so early in the morning."

Startled, Simon spun around. Walter, who had been talking with the students just a moment ago, now stood directly behind him.

"...Ah, good morning, Professor," Simon managed, forcing a smile.

"Your heart is beating quite rapidly and irregularly," Walter observed with a gentle smile of his own. "My apologies if I startled you."

"N-No, it’s fine."

Simon quickly regained his composure. ’Do I have to control my own heartbeat to maintain a calm facade around this man?’

"How has the Cloud been working for you?"

"It’s been great," Simon replied, mirroring Walter’s smooth smile.

His gaze briefly flickered to the fountain pen clipped to the front of Walter’s suit before snapping back to his face. "Thanks to that technique, I was able to earn a high score on the BMAT."

"Haha! I’m delighted to hear it. Thanks to the performance of Special Admission No. 1, I get to hold my head a little higher among the other professors."

His voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper. "Have you reconsidered my offer from before?"

He was referring to the direct discipleship. Simon shook his head. "I’m sorry, Professor. My feelings on the matter haven’t changed."

"I see." Walter placed a light hand on Simon’s shoulder. "Study hard. I’ll see you in class."

As Walter walked away at a leisurely pace, he suddenly spun around. "I’ve prepared a great deal for our next class. It should be quite entertaining."

Everywhere he went, students struck up friendly conversations with him. Simon watched his retreating back for a moment before lowering his head and forcing himself to focus on his Cursology studies once more.

---

The first class of the morning was Hemomancy. As usual, the four members of Group 7 were gathered and chatting.

"I’m most worried about the Hemomancy evaluation," Meirin sighed, resting her chin on her hand. "Black magic related to the heart... doesn’t that feel a little too abstract?"

Simon and Kamibarez nodded in agreement.

Dick chuckled and crossed his arms. "Why not something like a spell to make your heart cold? Then you wouldn’t get scared no matter what horror story you heard..."

"Please engage your brain before you speak," Meirin said flatly.

Dick made a sound of disapproval. "You know, you’ve been a bit prickly ever since the Venomology evaluation."

She immediately bristled. "Hey! What about me? I’m always like this!"

"See? Angry again." Dick turned his head away. "On the other hand, look at these two. What happened to make you so lovey-dovey?" he asked, gesturing to Simon and Kamibarez, who were sitting side by side.

Kamibarez, who had been leaning slightly toward Simon, jumped in surprise and immediately straightened her posture.

’If I had gone with Simon, I would’ve gotten an A+ for sure!’ Meirin grumbled to herself.

Just as she was about to say something more, Walter entered the classroom. The students quickly sat up straight. Holding the attendance book, Walter addressed the class.

"Class A! Shall we call the roll?"

He called out each student’s name in his gentle voice.

"Karel Oksara."

"Heeere!"

"Claudia Mendes."

"Here."

"Hector Moore."

"Here."

There was a noticeable difference in enthusiasm between the female and male students’ responses. After finishing the roll call, Walter looked around at the class. "You’re all having a tough time with the barrage of performance evaluations, aren’t you?"

This time, the entire class shouted in perfect unison, "Yes!"

"While I can’t help you directly with your other subjects, I’d at least like to lighten your burden when it comes to Hemomancy."

A female student called out, "But Professor, your performance evaluation is confusing too!"

"That’s right!" another agreed.

"Hahahaha!" Walter laughed heartily, and the students joined in.

His class was the only one with such a friendly atmosphere, where they could joke and interact so freely.

"Don’t worry too much. You just need to follow the lessons closely," Walter said softly. "Today, we’re going to learn a special technique related to the heart. Can anyone tell me the importance of the heart from a hemomantic perspective?"

A flurry of answers came at once: blood supply, blood circulation, core maintenance. Walter nodded.

"The heart, which distributes blood and jet-black energy throughout the body, is the most vital organ. Many necromancers have conducted extensive research to unlock its hidden power."

Walter retrieved something from the lectern. "One of the results of that research is the object you see before you."

Simon’s eyes widened.

’A-A syringe?’

A deeply suspicious object had just appeared. Surely he wasn’t planning on using that on a student.