Necromancer Academy and the Genius Summoner-Chapter 222: Episode

The eventful Venomology class was finally over. Byulya, who had managed to expose the world’s top elites to all sorts of indignities in their very first lesson, stretched languidly and left the Venomology building with a satisfied look on her face.

"Professor!"

A woman with long hair came running after her. It was the Head TA who had succeeded Francesca.

Byulya grinned, revealing her sharp, triangular teeth. "Oh, hello. Good work today."

"Professor... it’s about something else." After a moment of hesitation, the Head TA cautiously asked, "Are you planning to conduct the same class for the other sections tomorrow?"

"Of course!"

"Th-Then from the second class onward..."

"We will have them consume a new poison, of course. Did I not inform you?"

The Head TA broke out in a cold sweat. ’What on earth am I supposed to do with this person? I can’t defy her since she took us in when we had nowhere else to go, but if we push forward with this insane curriculum, the student backlash will be immense. And these aren’t just any students. They’re the children of prestigious family heads, great generals, prime ministers—the most powerful people in the world. How will they react when they find out Kizen is feeding poison to the children they’ve raised so preciously?’

After much deliberation, the Head TA steeled herself and decided to offer her honest counsel. "I understand the intention and purpose of your class, Professor. But they’re still first-years who don’t know anything! Plus, there are students who don’t typically use venomology. Even with a quasi-wartime curriculum, this kind of training should be done after the students have matured a bit more..."

"Hahahahaha!" A peal of thunderous laughter erupted. Every time Byulya’s shoulders shook, colorful grains of sand fell from her body, and the TA hastily took a step back.

"You said you understood the intention and purpose, correct?"

"Ah, yes."

"Then is that not sufficient? I know what you are worried about, but if you are always concerned with the higher-ups, you will never accomplish anything. I will take full responsibility for everything, so simply trust me and follow my lead." Byulya placed a hand on her shoulder and grinned. "Understood?"

"...Yes."

After patting the Head TA’s shoulder lightly, Byulya turned and walked away. Exactly thirty seconds after she disappeared, the other TAs who had been hiding swarmed out.

"What happened?"

"Is she going to stop?"

The Head TA just shook her head, and sighs of despair rippled through the group.

"...Haaaah, is Venomology cursed or something?" a male TA said. With haggard eyes, he leaned against the wall and pulled out a cigar. "The first professor died, the second was a Saintess, and the third is a wild woman."

"Hey, smoking is forbidden on campus."

"I really need a smoke right now. What sin did we commit to have to serve people like this?"

The TAs’ morale plummeted. The Head TA’s voice cut through the gloom, sharp and serious. "Put it away."

The male TA flinched. "Yes, ma’am," he mumbled, stuffing the cigar back into his pocket with an embarrassed look.

The Head TA looked at the assembled group. "If that’s the professor’s directive, then we have no other choice. We’ll follow it. However, we need to act as a buffer and do everything we can to ease the students’ complaints."

"By easing their complaints, you mean..."

"What exactly are you planning to do?" one of her juniors asked.

With a firm expression, the Head TA replied, "I’ll request that she lower the poison’s concentration, or reduce the number of sets to two per class. We’ll try to create the impression that the professor is adjusting the difficulty out of consideration for the students. I’ll go see her again tomorrow."

The TAs nodded in agreement.

---

All of the day’s classes were over. Simon wasn’t feeling his best, but he decided to stop by the ‘Mutant’ club room for the first time in a while. He had promised Toto he would go with him to greet the seniors, and he intended to keep his word.

’This place looks as shabby as ever.’

A piece of paper with ‘Mutant’ scrawled in crooked letters was taped to the club room door. It was so tattered it looked like it was about to fall off. He pressed it down lightly with his palm before knocking.

"It’s Simon Polentia."

It was strangely noisy inside. Figuring another accident had occurred, he cautiously opened the door.

"There it goes!"

"Catch it!"

It was indeed an accident. A pitch-black skeleton was rampaging through the room. Toto dived in to stop it, only to take a kick to the face. He went flying into the wall, blood gushing from both nostrils.

"Heyyyy! Stop right there!"

Behind him, a girl with cream-colored hair, her face smudged with what looked like coal dust, came running. It was Benya Vanilla, a second-year student, granddaughter of the chairman of the massive undead corporation, the Vanilla Group, and president of the ‘Mutant’ club.

When she spotted Simon, she shouted as if his arrival was a godsend. "Hey, my boy! Stop that thing, quick!"

The berserk skeleton was performing the dangerous feat of wildly swinging dual axes. One swing shattered a nearby water tank, and a yellow liquid gushed out, flowing into the mouth of Toto, who had collapsed right beneath it.

"Aargh!"

’Clack! Clack-clack!’

The skeleton charged, trying to escape through the door Simon had left open. Simon dropped into a combat stance. "Senior, is it okay if I break it?"

"Absolutely not! That thing is a crucial step toward world domination! Subdue it with as little damage as possible!"

"Huh?"

Toto, scrambling to his feet while avoiding the spilling liquid, looked completely dumbfounded. ’Is that really something that can be subdued without damage right now?’

"Got it."

As Simon extended his right arm, six Overlord tentacles shot out with a whirring sound. Before the skeleton could even swing its axes, two of the blades precisely sliced through the joints between its arm bones. The remaining tentacles followed, cleanly severing the joints of its legs, chest, and neck.

The skeleton’s body collapsed into a pile of bones. ’Clatter!’

Simon leaped through the scattering bones, caught the all-important skull in his arms, and landed gracefully.

"Here you go."

"Oh, thanks!"

Benya snatched the skull and lightly touched a magic circle inside it. The skeleton’s head, which had been thrashing about as if to bite her, grew calm as if it had been sedated.

"Phew. That was a close call. Thanks, thanks," Benya chirped, placing the skull on a table.

Toto, who had witnessed Simon’s feat up close, stood with his mouth agape. ’His control of the Overlord is much cleaner than before. More than that, how can he be so calm in an emergency? We’re the same age, but it feels like he’s been through completely different experiences!’

Feeling burdened by Toto’s star-struck gaze, Simon pretended not to notice and began gathering the scattered bones from the floor. After he placed them all on the table, Benya said, "Can you help me put this back together?"

Simon’s head shot up. "Oh, really? Is it okay for me to touch it?"

"Of course! You can contribute to world domination, too, my boy!"

’...She still hasn’t given up on that.’

For reference, the club president Benya’s dream was ‘world domination with the undead.’

The two of them quickly began assembling the skeleton. Benya was incredible, putting the bones together by feel alone without even looking at a diagram, but Simon’s skill in assisting her was also exceptional.

"Number 8, number 14."

He promptly handed her the bones she called for. After getting the hang of it, he even began anticipating her needs, handing her the next bone before she even spoke. When Benya completed the right leg, he mirrored her work and assembled the left on his own.

"Isn’t the order of numbers 75 and 76 switched here?"

"Oh! You’re right! Sorry, sorry."

He even managed to spot a mistake made by the granddaughter of the Vanilla family. The two assembled the black skeleton with astonishing teamwork.

"All done! You’re good at support, too, my boy!"

"Thank you."

Once everything was cleaned up, Toto joined them, and the three took a break with some juice. Apparently, the sentience of the newly developed skeleton had a tendency to go berserk, which was causing problems.

"This is another one of those skeletons that isn’t on the market, right?"

"Of course! It’s impossible to mass-produce, so I’m not selling it. I was thinking of making one for my personal use, but... it has a nasty temper. Still, I made some good progress."

Benya seemed pleased. She said that in return for his help, he could ask for anything.

"If it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to have my own personal skeleton. Could you take a look at the materials?"

"Oh, really? Go ahead, take it out."

Simon glanced at the black skeleton on the table, then quickly retrieved a skull from his Subspace.

"Wh-what is this?!" Benya gasped, jumping up and lifting the skull. "I can feel it! This is an incredibly powerful undead!"

It was true. It was the skull of the Sword Master, Manus, whom Simon had fought back in Deathland.

"But the core and sentience are completely gone," she said, peering inside. "As it is, it’s just an empty shell. I don’t know what kind of undead it was, but it’s probably impossible for it to ever regain its original power and memories. Still, it looks like it could be useful..."

She thought for a moment, then set the skull down. "If you’re okay with it, I can send it to the Vanilla headquarters for research. What do you say? If the results are good, you’ll get your own custom skeleton. Even if it fails, I’ll pay you a small research fee. How about it?"

There was no reason to refuse an offer from the top company in the industry. More importantly, Simon had been carrying the skull around, unable to do anything with it. He knew this was now in the realm of experts.

"I’d really appreciate that. But how long will it take?"

"Who knows? This is a truly remarkable undead. It could take a year or two."

Simon’s face went pale. ’So, a graduation gift, basically?’

Still, he knew the Sword Master skeleton’s power firsthand. He figured that if Vanilla couldn’t do it, no one could.

"Then I’ll take you up on that offer. Thank you for your help, senior!"

"Leave it to me!"

---

The next morning, Simon woke up with a haggard expression.

’Ugh, my head...’

He had felt fine at the club, but after returning to the dorm and falling asleep, the poison seemed to have spread again. He had spent half the night in the bathroom, vomiting and suffering from diarrhea. He hadn’t been able to sleep properly from the constant discomfort.

’First, I need to get a grip.’

Lying down comfortably on his bed, Simon began his mana breathing, circulating the Jet-Black energy through his body to recover. After thirty minutes, he felt a little better. He glanced at the clock. It was early dawn; Dick and Kajan were still fast asleep.

’I really can’t sleep.’

His mind was wide awake. In the end, Simon washed up, changed into his Kizen uniform, and left the dormitory. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

He headed for the library. Minions were cleaning before the official opening time. As Simon hesitated near the entrance, one of them kindly told him that the main reading area was clean and he was welcome to come in. Simon didn’t refuse and headed straight for the shelves.

’Yona. When you return to Kizen, look for that name.’

He had come to the library because he wanted to learn more about his father Richard’s activities during his time as a Legion Commander. With a quiet apology to the minions, he began to rummage through the books.

There were no titles containing the name ‘Yona.’ With no other choice, he grabbed every book he could find on Legion Commanders, stacked them in a tower on an empty desk, and sat down. He pulled the top book from the pile and began to skim through it.

<History of the Legions>

As soon as he opened it, he saw the name ‘Yona’ in a subheading.

’Found it.’

With a pounding heart, Simon turned the page.