Chapter 14
The next morning, Simon’s new day at Keyzen began.
Three classes were scheduled for today.
The first class, Darkness Dynamics, was taught by Professor Eric Aura, a middle-aged man.
With ideally placed wrinkles, a neatly trimmed beard, and a dignified appearance that suited his suit, along with a composed attitude exuding from his mature demeanor, everyone naturally felt a liking toward him.
“Darkness is fundamental to necromancers. It cannot be stressed enough.”
Eric skillfully guided the students.
His explanations were easy to understand, and his breakdowns stuck firmly in the mind. Though he didn’t show off flashy techniques like Bahil in Katarology, the class itself was clean and straightforward.
Before they knew it, all of Class A was immersed in Eric’s lecture.
How does Darkness bring about the miracle known as dark magic?
The flow of Darkness.
Understanding rune characters.
The principles behind magic circles.
“The origin of rune characters can be traced back to the Eternal Flame at the Temple of Del.”
Eric didn’t stop at explaining mere theories.
“People never questioned why the sacred flame never went out. They considered doubting the miracle of the gods itself to be blasphemy.”
Sometimes, he even delved into past history to explain rune characters.
“Eventually, they noticed that the ashes falling from the sacred flame formed shapes resembling ‘letters’. And they were horrified by the truth that mere letters could bring forth the same miracle as the sacred flame. This is the origin of rune characters.”
Eric drew ancient rune characters on the board and explained how the mages and necromancers who studied them had gradually improved them over time.
Then, as naturally as flowing water, he transitioned into explaining the structure of modern magic circles.
Why does this magic circle work?
Why does that one not?
Eric carefully broke down the components of a magic circle and explained them. Until now, Simon had been drawing magic circles using correction tools without much thought, but now he finally began to understand how they worked.
As Simon frantically took notes to keep up with the class, the bell rang to signal the end of the period.
“That will be all for today.”
Eric also declared the end of the class.
“There’s an assignment due by the next session. Pick one of the magic circles you’ve learned that doesn’t function, and submit a report detailing the correction plan to make it work, along with the calculations and formulas used. The three students I call will also present in front of the class.”
Since Darkness Dynamics was a mandatory core course, perhaps it was fortunate that Simon wasn’t called to present this time.
He let out a sigh of relief inwardly.
“Wow, this class is so hard.”
As students noisily exited the lecture hall, Dick stretched with an obviously exhausted expression.
“Feels like when I used to study arithmetic with my dad. Can’t we just memorize the magic circles and use them like usual? Why do we have to know every little detail of how they activate?”
“I thought it was fine.”
Simon said, crossing his arms.
“I didn’t understand half of it, but I liked that he explained the principles step by step.”
“You like anything as long as it’s at Keyzen. You even scratched the bathhouse soap with your fingernail because it fascinated y—”
Simon lightly jabbed Dick in the chest with his elbow. Dick staggered back with an “Oof!” but couldn’t stop laughing.
“Ha! You even freaked out at the bubbles from the bathhouse like, ‘Can I even go in here?’ Pfft!”
“I’m going ahead.”
Simon replied sulkily and started walking. Dick quickly followed, shouting it was just a joke.
Class A had to prepare immediately for their next class without a break.
After walking for 20 minutes, they arrived at the next class location, an empty plain in Keyzen’s outskirts.
“No one’s here?”
“Huh, over there...!”
While the Class A students chatted as they waited, a thick cloud of dust rose from the forest.
Dudududududu!
The ground shook as if an earthquake had struck.
What approached was none other than a herd of dozens of hippos.
Students gasped and instinctively stepped back.
“Ahaha! Hello, freshmen!”
A man riding atop one of the hippos came into view.
With dark skin, thick lips, a slender build, and relatively short limbs, he wore a simple outfit and had bare feet. He skillfully brought the hippo herd to a stop in front of the students and leapt down.
“Professor Hongpeng has decided that today’s class will be held on Roke Mountain! Now, everyone, please mount a hippo!”
The Magical Combat Studies professor, Hongpeng Tun Sokum Marlat, was known as quite the eccentric at Keyzen.
Though the school had provided her with a lab and residence, she preferred to camp around different spots on Roke Mountain. Because of that, her classes were usually held outdoors.
“...Are we seriously supposed to ride those?”
A male student looked at the hippos flaring their nostrils and grimaced.
“Hey, minion! Shouldn’t you at least put a blanket on those beasts?”
The man who heard that smiled calmly and approached the student.
Then—
“Aaaaaaack!”
He grabbed the student’s face with one hand and lifted him into the air. Cries of shock erupted from all directions.
“What are you doing?!”
“How dare you to a Keyzen student—!”
A chilling, murderous aura oozed from the man’s body despite his innocent smile. The students who had been rushing forward to protest froze in place.
“Why are today’s freshmen so lacking in manners? You should call me a teaching assistant, not a minion.”
Only then did the male student grasp the situation and shout desperately.
“Aaagh! I-I’m sorry, senior! Please forgive me!”
If he was a TA, then he was most likely a senior who had previously attended Keyzen.
And as someone directly assisting a professor, he was not someone a freshman could treat lightly.
“Not senior—teaching assistant.”
“I’m sorry, teaching assistant!”
Watching the commotion, Simon shook his head in disbelief.
“What’s wrong with everyone?”
“They’re nobles.”
Dick said with a shrug.
“Grew up pampered like hothouse flowers, so they still treat others like servants. Stuff like this happens a lot during the first few weeks.”
It was such a convincing explanation that Simon nodded in agreement.
Soon after, the TA, now back to his innocent smile, waved his arm.
“Alright, we’re a bit behind schedule. Everyone, please get on a hippo! Up to three people per hippo!”
The students, now clearly more alert, quickly climbed aboard.
Simon mounted one effortlessly with agile movements. Dick, on the other hand, slipped several times and barely managed to get up after some grunting.
“Whew, class hasn’t even started and I’m already exhausted.”
While Dick wiped his sweat with his sleeve—
Simon spotted a female student flailing as she hopped in place, struggling to get on.
“Everyone ready? Then we’re departing!”
At the TA’s words, the girl looked flustered. Simon willingly reached out a hand toward her.
“Need help?”
“Ah...! Thank you.”
With a look of salvation on her face, she grasped Simon’s hand.
With a firm pull, Simon lifted her up like a paper doll, and she landed easily on the hippo’s back.
“Alright, here we go!”
Just as she got on, the TA smacked the hippo’s rear. The lead hippo let out a cry and began to run, with the rest of the herd following suit.
The girl, barely managing to get on, let out a sigh of relief and turned to Simon.
"Thank you for helping me! I’m...!"
She tried to say something, but the hippos suddenly picked up speed, cutting the conversation short. The other students, seemingly frightened, clung tightly to the hippos’ backs.
The vibrations traveled through their entire bodies, and the ride was far from comfortable.
One student cried out,
“T-Teaching Assistant! I’m gonna fall! What do we hold on to?!”
“Anything.”
“It’s too fast!”
“Perseverance! Endure it with sheer grit! This is part of your training!”
The TA, balancing using only his legs, raised his right arm confidently as he shouted.
“Of course, if you fall off and get trampled by the hippos, you’ll probably die! At least one or two accidents happen every year, you know?”
“...What?”
The students doubted their ears.
“Hold on! Hold on tight! If you can’t even ride a hippo properly, you’re not needed at Keyzen!”
“Uwaah! Aaaah!”
“Mommmmyyy!”
“Hey! Stop! Damn it, stop this thing!”
“Hahahahahahaha!”
It was a class on the move, steeped in madness.
They finally arrived at the class site.
Past densely grown trees, an open field stretched out in the middle of the mountain. The sun hung above the center of the forest, warmly welcoming everyone, while the sounds of chirping birds and buzzing insects flowed together like the harmonies of a concert.
It was an incredibly beautiful place.
“Huff... huff... dammit...”
“Ugh, haaaack...”
That is, assuming the viewers were in any state to enjoy the scenery.
All the students lay sprawled across the field, their faces drained. The hippos had already descended back down the mountain slope, and the TAs were handing out water bottles to the collapsed students.
‘What is this?’
Simon took a sip and found the taste quite unusual.
A sweet drink with a slightly spicy aftertaste, but the moment he drank it, his thirst was quenched, and fatigue seemed to melt away.
Gradually, the students’ expressions began to recover.
Flap-flap-flap!
This time, a flock of white birds flew overhead, passing above the students. Everyone blinked, watching the scene unfold.
“Welcome, everyone, to my main base of operations!”
Simon turned his head. Beyond the rising birds, a tall woman was walking toward them with both arms spread wide.
With healthily tanned brown skin and a firm, muscular build, her hair was twisted into several thick cords in a unique style.
The students quickly scrambled to their feet.
‘That woman is...’
Hongpeng Tun Sokum Marlat.
A legend in the world of necromancers, who single-handedly fought the massive undead monster Kundar Hydra that laid waste to four territories. After five days of battle, she had snapped all one hundred of its necks and secured a dramatic victory.
She was later scouted by Keyzen and has been teaching Magical Combat Studies ever since.
Eccentric as she was, her skill was undeniable, and that was exactly why the school turned a blind eye to her odd behavior.
Flap!
Forest birds flew down and perched on the fingers she had stretched out.
“Now then, everyone, please ztand up, if you please.”
Her speech was slightly off from the common tongue, as though she hadn’t fully mastered it.
“Form yourselb into four by rowz.”
“...?”
When the students failed to understand and stood blankly, Hongpeng’s teaching assistants stepped forward, used to the routine.
“Please line up in four columns.”
“Move quickly.”
The students lined up with confused expressions. Hongpeng stood at the front, and her TAs took position to the left and right of the formation.
“Then, we shall depart now.”
Wait—when is the class actually going to start?
Just as Simon had that thought, Hongpeng suddenly dashed forward. The students at the front hurriedly began running after her, and so began a surprise run.
“A healthy body brings forth steady progress! The foundation of Magical Combat is a strong physique!”
Though her accent was strange, the intent behind her words was perfectly clear.
As she gradually picked up speed, the leading students struggled to keep up.
And in the third row, running steadily, Simon observed her form in amazement.
‘Incredible.’
He had never seen someone run like that before.
The angle of her feet with every stride, the movement of her muscles, the way her shoulders and upper body shifted, everything was so refined, it was like watching a perfect illustration. Not an ounce of wasted movement.
Despite having the same two arms and legs as everyone else, why did she seem like a being from another dimension? She looked so ideal, it was almost unnatural.
“Huff! Huff!”
“Huuh! Huuuuh!”
As everyone was busy running frantically, Hongpeng slightly slowed her pace and began teaching during the run.
The basics of Magical Combat, its philosophy, and its meaning.
To summarize, Magical Combat was a class where students learned battle techniques that involved surrounding the body with Darkness to enhance physical abilities to the extreme, and then using that power in combat.
Once a practitioner reached a certain level, the Darkness would flow out of the body and form garments called Dark Robes, a technique symbolic of battle necromancers.
Many male students dreamed of mastering this technique, and quite a few chose the Magical Combat track solely for the Dark Robes.
“There be many trees. Take caution, yes!”
The running continued into a wooded terrain filled with thick brush and leaves. The four-column formation broke apart, and everyone began following Hongpeng in their own ways while avoiding trees.
Most were flailing their way through the underbrush, but a few students began leaping up and bounding across tree branches.
All of them were Magical Combat aspirants, finally getting a chance to show off their skills.
One of the TAs leapt into a tree and gave them a thumbs up. Their faces lit up.
“Man, I’m jealous of the Combat kids. Tsk!”
Dick grumbled, smacking his face into a tree trunk.
‘Hmm.’
Simon was carefully watching everything.
It was a physical, close-combat style of dark magic and he found himself growing increasingly interested.
“Huff! Huff! Hey, Simon! You okay?”
Dick asked, his face bright red. Simon blinked and responded.
“Hm? Oh, yeah, I’m fine.”
“Huff! Huff! What kind of stamina do you have...? Cough cough!”
“Doesn’t everyone manage this kind of run?”
Simon had grown up leaping across the treacherous southern mountain ranges of Leshill like it was a neighborhood park.
Even as the TAs were starting to sweat, Simon’s face remained completely relaxed.
‘This class is fun too!’
As he happily immersed himself in this long-awaited physical activity, Hongpeng watched him with sparkling eyes.
Superb.