Necromancer Academy and the Genius Summoner-Chapter 142: Episode

"A mark only you can recognize? What is it?" Kajan asked, his eyes sharp with curiosity.

"Well, you see..." Simon’s mind returned to his fight with the Priest in the Forbidden Forest. He had picked up a stone, imbued it with Jet-Black, and hurled it.

’Come on! Show your face!’

He remembered throwing it with pure desperation. The Priest, clearly not expecting a counterattack, had tilted their head a moment too late. The projectile had torn a small gash in the right side of their hood.

"Blood," Simon said, the memory vivid. He had seen a red stain bloom on the fabric. "The Priest should have a scratch on their cheek."

Of course, they would have healed the wound with a potion, but Simon reasoned that if the cut had been deep enough, a faint scar might remain.

Kajan crossed his arms, lost in thought. He seemed to be mentally scrolling through the faces of potential suspects, searching for anyone with a scar on their cheek. Finally, he shook his head.

"It’s not enough," he concluded. "The wound might not have left a scar, and there are plenty of ways to hide one. More importantly, we can’t identify the culprit based on a single mark."

"...Yeah, you’re right," Simon conceded. He had already checked several people himself but hadn’t found anyone suspicious.

Just then, Kajan opened his Subspace and retrieved a small pair of glasses.

"Take these, just in case."

"What are they?"

"Something I’ve been carrying ever since I fell for the Priest’s trap."

Simon immediately took the glasses and put them on. They didn’t seem to have a prescription, but his vision instantly blurred.

"Wearing those lets you see the real face behind a bio-mask," Kajan explained. "If they’re using one to hide the scar, it’ll be obvious."

"How useful."

The chances of finding the Priest with these were slim, but it was better than nothing. Simon carefully tucked the glasses into his pocket.

---

The bustling routine of Kizen began anew. There were performance evaluations to prepare for, duel evaluations to train for, and final exams looming months away.

"Wow! How brilliant!" Professor Bahil, the head of Cursology, clapped his hands. He called Simon to the front of the lecture hall and had him write a curse equation on the blackboard. Then, he launched into a lengthy explanation for the class, detailing just how perfect, creative, and original Simon’s equation was.

"Simon," he began, his voice booming with excitement. "Why did you exclude the vibration formula from the ‘Sickness’ curse?"

"Ah... well." Simon scratched the side of his head, debating whether to invent an excuse or tell the truth. He opted for honesty. "I don’t really know the vibration formula, so I tried swapping it out by adding an imbalance formula instead."

A few scattered chuckles rippled through the classroom.

"Special Admission No. 1 doesn’t even know the vibration formula."

"He’s only good at Summoning. He has no fundamentals." 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

As if on cue, members of Hector’s faction chimed in. At that very moment...

"How original! Brilliant!" Bahil roared, his fervor growing. "It’s because he hasn’t been pre-trained! It’s because his mind is a blank canvas, untainted by rote formulas and rigid equations! That’s how such an original idea can emerge!"

He pounded his fist on the blackboard, his face flushed as he launched into his explanation.

" Assuming that a motion sickness curse must naturally use a vibration formula just means your brain is pickled in preconceived notions! Motion sickness isn’t only caused by vibrations. Humans also experience it from a discrepancy between the movement their body feels and the information their eyes perceive! The nausea you feel in a fast-moving carriage on a paved road, and the dizziness you get after staring at a mana screen for too long, are both of this type!"

Bahil went on to detail the visual motion sickness effect achieved through the imbalance formula in the ‘Sickness’ curse.

"Absolutely brilliant. This is exactly how you develop a curse equation! Now, a round of applause!"

Applause echoed through the room. Overwhelmed by the effusive praise, Simon bowed his head, unsure how to react. Bahil placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Your idea is truly excellent, Simon. However, since casting speed is paramount for a curse, let’s have you start slowly with the vibration formula for now."

"Ah, yes, sir!"

’So in the end, he’s still making him use the vibration formula!’ the Cursology majors protested internally, though none dared to speak a word. Bahil affectionately patted Simon’s back as he returned to his seat.

’The adoration in your eyes is practically overflowing, Professor,’ Chehekle, the head TA, thought with a sigh from her position below the podium. A Kizen professor’s one-sided infatuation with a student. It was a rare sight indeed.

’Still, watching the great Bahil get all worked up and flustered is... uniquely entertaining.’

But this was no time to let her guard down. Bahil was a man who could fly off the handle at any moment. It wouldn’t be strange if he had already placed a curse on Simon to turn him into a puppet disciple, but he refrained, likely out of fear that it might damage Simon’s genius.

"Chehekle," Bahil’s voice cut through her thoughts, making her jump.

"Ah, yes, Professor."

"You will lead the practical exercise for the remainder of the class."

’How strange.’ He always personally supervised the practicals for Class A. Despite her confusion, Chehekle bowed her head.

"Understood."

Bahil strode away, and Chehekle stepped up to the podium.

"We will take a fifteen-minute break and then begin the practical exercise. TAs, gather around."

---

After supervising the students and concluding the class, Chehekle made her way to Bahil’s office. She knocked lightly with the back of her hand.

"Professor, it’s me, Chehekle."

There was no reply, but Chehekle, accustomed to this, opened the door and entered. She stopped short, startled.

On the large blackboard that dominated the back wall, Bahil was frantically scrawling streams of equations, his chalk a blur.

’He’s in the zone for the first time in a while.’

Chehekle waited silently, her hands clasped. Another hour passed. Finally, having filled the blackboard to the brim, Bahil wiped the sweat from his brow and turned to her.

"When did you arrive, Chehekle?"

"An hour ago."

"And the class?"

"It ended without issue. More importantly, what is that equation?"

Bahil grinned and slapped the blackboard once. "I heard the Dresden Kingdom has been having trouble with recent attacks from wild harpies. This is a ‘Sickness’ curse that applies to flying monsters."

Her eyes widened. "A new version of ‘Remake Sickness’."

"Precisely! Aerial monsters are surprisingly resistant to ‘Sickness’ curses that include vibration formulas. That’s because it’s a curse designed to target humans, without considering a harpy’s sense of equilibrium. So, I’ve created a new curse that utilizes cross-modal motion sickness!"

Bahil’s fingers danced as he explained. "A discrepancy between visual and vestibular information! With this formula, when harpies are flying straight ahead, they will feel as if they are banking downward. The reverse is also true! In the end, the more the harpies fly, the more they’ll be enveloped in a dreadful sense of incongruity, and they will soon crash to the ground from severe motion sickness."

Chehekle was speechless.

He was a true eccentric, a pervert even, but his ability was undeniable. As a student of Cursology, Chehekle was genuinely impressed.

"Wait, then the praise you gave Simon earlier wasn’t just empty flattery?"

"Haha! After working with me for years, you still don’t know me, Chehekle?" Bahil perched on the armrest of the sofa and held up his hands. "My praise for him is completely sincere!"

Chehekle looked at him blankly.

"His way of approaching formulas is just different from that of ordinary students! There’s a slight twist to his thought process! I myself get a lot of inspiration just from listening to his answers!" Bahil snorted and continued, "Wasn’t it a hot topic among the professors how, on the first day of Basic Black Magic, he derived the number 1,200,146 in Professor Jane’s test without using the ancient runes of Jet-Black Dynamics, the ‘Instance Skeleton’ formula from Summoning, or the ‘Exhausto-Theron’ formula from Cursology? It’s exactly that!"

Bahil drummed his fingertips on the armrest.

"His creativity in handling formulas is reminiscent of a spring that could bounce in any direction! If his parents’ reason for not pre-tutoring him was to grant him originality at the moment his genius exploded... Ah! I would feel not just respect, but terror at their foresight and conviction!"

"Yes, yes, I understand what you’re saying, Professor," Chehekle cut in, seeing he was about to bow in the direction of Simon’s parents. She lifted her clipboard. "So, what will you name this ‘Remake Sickness’?"

"Hmm." After a moment of thought, Bahil said, "Simon-kness..."

"That’s awful."

Bahil chuckled and stood up. Then, his playful expression vanished. "Professor Silage is on the move."

Chehekle’s expression hardened.

"I hear there have been tangible results in the recent SM-1 blood research."

Simon had found no enjoyment in his Hemomancy classes so far. His SM-1 blood was a new type, one that had never existed before. It was completely different from existing blood-flow techniques, and with no prior research, Silage had no way to teach him.

So, Silage had mobilized his disciples across the continent to conduct research, and the results were just beginning to emerge.

"I estimate it will take Silage about half a month to complete the SM-1 curriculum for Simon."

"A crisis, then," Chehekle stated nonchalantly.

"Yes. A crisis indeed! And Professor Hongfeng’s counterattack is fearsome as well!" Bahil clasped his hands together and spoke gravely. "I heard she started teaching ‘Internal Jet-Black Eruption’ in her Combat Magic class. Why else would she be advancing the curriculum so quickly? And just as expected, the only one to master the eruption in that class was Simon Polentia! Her intention is to rapidly advance Simon’s combat skills!"

Chehekle narrowed her brow. "I don’t know. According to the rumors I’ve heard, Simon declined Professor Hongfeng’s offer to become her direct disciple."

At those words, Bahil burst out laughing. "Do you believe such an obvious bluff? Even if the rumors are true, Hongfeng is not a woman who gives up that easily. Everyone is fooled by her clumsy continental accent and innocent face, but she is an incredibly persistent and greedy person."

"In addition to his existing Summoning, now Combat Magic and Hemomancy too..." The level of competition over a single student was insane. Chehekle let out a deep sigh and looked up at him. "But Professor Bahil? Didn’t you say during Simon and Malcolm’s duel evaluation that there was no need to be hasty, that he was a talent who would fall into your hands anyway? I thought you must have had a reason for boasting like that."

"Of course, Chehekle!" Bahil went to the end of the blackboard and pulled a cord. A thick bundle of papers cascaded down below the board. "I am creating a curse solely for my Simon."

"...Ugh, that possessive title is disgusting."

"The new ‘Simon Polentia Original’ that I will bestow upon him! I plan to show him something on a completely different level from that trivial Bone Armor!"

Rationally, Simon was currently excelling with Summoning. He was strong enough to crush Special Admission No. 10 in a duel. It was only natural for him to be less interested in developing other disciplines. Focusing on his strengths rather than needlessly adding other means of attack was a wise decision for a student.

"I have decided to understand him! Don’t you agree? For an opponent he can defeat just by standing still and swinging his Overlord, using a curse to weaken them is an unnecessary effort!"

So Bahil had changed direction. He needed a completely new curse, one that didn’t emphasize combat, a single move that would capture his interest.

"Once this research is complete, I guarantee that Simon will become mine! But time is the issue," Bahil mused, rubbing his chin. "Will Silage establish the style for SM-1 first, or will I develop the ‘Simon Original’ curse first?"

Chehekle let out a disbelieving laugh. "If Simon knew, he’d probably be overwhelmed. The great professors of Kizen are falling all over themselves to get on his good side. Why is everyone going to such lengths?"

"Isn’t it obvious?" Bahil shrugged. "Because the benefits we stand to gain when he becomes our disciple are several times greater than the effort we’re putting in."

The corners of Bahil’s mouth stretched into a long, predatory smile.

"No, they’ll be dozens of times greater."

---

After their Cursology class, Simon’s Group 7 went to the cafeteria together. The four of them sat down with their trays, each bearing the limited-edition hamburger steak set.

Kamibarez smiled brightly. "Phew... That was a close one today! There were only two people left in line behind us!"

"Tell me about it." Dick rested his chin on his hand and poked a french fry with his fork. "People are getting information faster and faster. I think a new community forum I don’t know about has been created. I’ll have to investigate."

"You’re making a big deal out of nothing," Meirin snorted as she cut into her steak, though she was clearly enjoying the limited-edition meal the most.

"By the way," Simon said, looking around. "Doesn’t the atmosphere feel a little... tense?"

"I-It does," Kamibarez agreed.

Not just the students, but even the TAs who had come for a meal were murmuring with grim faces.

"Hold on," Dick said, getting up from his seat to gather some intel.

"Did something happen?" Simon wondered aloud.

"Maybe Efnel pulled something? Like a preemptive strike," Meirin suggested.

"N-No way!" Kamibarez gasped.

Just then, Dick came running back to their table, sweating profusely.

"Dick! What’s wrong?" Simon asked.

"Whew, it’s definitely big news," Dick sighed, running a hand through his hair with a troubled expression. "Professor Lang from Venomology... he passed away."