Chapter 231
Simon entered Bahil’s laboratory.
‘...Oh.’
It was, somehow, exactly what he expected of Bahil.
While the other professors’ labs were somewhat messy or disorganized, Bahil’s was so clean and orderly it felt almost obsessive, like someone with compulsive tendencies had arranged it.
A simple interior with a black-and-white theme, flowerbeds placed throughout, expensive paintings adorning the walls. The entire room carried the pleasant aroma of coffee.
And on the far wall, a massive chalkboard was mounted, filled with layers of writings and erasures, as if Bahil had written and wiped over it countless times.
“Have a seat.”
“Ah, thank you, Professor.”
As Simon sat down on the sofa, Bahil brought over a cup of coffee.
Judging by the temperature, it had been prepared quite a while ago.
Clink.
But the moment the teacup was placed on the saucer, it began to bubble and steam as it turned hot again.
Simon looked at it with fascination.
“I believe I’ve mentioned something similar before.”
Bahil said, crossing his legs and setting the hat from his head on the table.
“There’s an unfortunate bias that curses are only harmful. In truth, almost no magic circle designed to enrich human life is without at least some element of curse formulas.”
Simon quietly nodded, lifting the teacup and taking a sip of the coffee.
Warm and sweet, it was oddly comforting. He had expected Bahil to prefer something dark and bitter, but surprisingly, the taste catered to a child’s palate.
“Now that classes are winding down, let’s get straight to the point.”
Bahil opened a bookshelf-shaped subspace in midair.
From inside, he pulled out a thin book, placed it on the table, and slid it toward Simon.
Simon brought the book closer to himself and opened it.
It contained the components of curse magic circles.
“Professor, this is…”
“Simon Follentia. This is a custom-designed curse set, made just for you.”
Bahil spoke with a cheerful tone.
“You won’t find this in any other book. These are one-of-a-kind curses in the world.”
Simon looked at him in astonishment, feeling more confusion than joy.
“Why would you give me something like this…?”
“When an educator finds an exceptional student, it’s only natural to want to teach. Let’s just say it’s the bond between master and disciple.”
Simon, shocked, set the book down.
“P-Professor Bahil! This is too much for someone like me. I can’t possibly—!”
“Ahh—no need to say more.”
Bahil raised his hand with a smile.
“There’s no hidden agenda. When it comes to Special Admissions No. 1, any professor would want to leave their mark in some way. Since you're a student, and learning is your primary role, just accept it.”
Simon glanced through the book with a slightly emotional expression.
He knew Bahil wasn’t one for empty gestures. If he said it was the only one in the world, then it truly was.
The book contained four curses in total.
Oddly, however, the descriptions were extremely minimal. There was little explanation about the formulas, and no clear indication of the effects of each curse.
“You probably noticed the lack of detail.”
Bahil seemed to anticipate his reaction.
“There are several reasons for that, but the main one is to avoid stifling your creativity.”
Education inevitably frames a learner’s perception. Since learners tend to prioritize acquiring knowledge, there’s a risk they’ll only accept what is directly taught to them.
But the flashes of brilliance Simon displayed when activating Exhaust—that kind of ingenuity—Bahil wanted to preserve it. So he intentionally left room for Simon to think and explore.
“The second reason is that I want you to internalize the framework of Katarology.”
“Ah…”
So, no good deed comes without a cost.
To master the four curses Bahil had provided, Simon would have to undertake considerable study.
“If you manage to master all four curses in this book by the end of the second semester, I’ll give you a gift.”
“A gift?”
“Yes.”
Bahil summoned the four curse magic circles into the air, placing them in the cardinal directions—north, south, east, and west. Then, he drew a base magic circle in the empty center.
‘What’s he planning?’
Next, Bahil extended his fingertip and selectively pulled specific runes and formulas from the four magic circles, transferring them into the central base.
It was like a buffet plate—he only picked the needed formulas and constructed a new magic circle, adding just a few more formulas of his own.
“This is a curse you can only learn after mastering the other four.”
In truth, the four curses in the book were merely stepping stones for Simon to acquire this final curse.
Click! Click!
A sound like an engine echoed as the central magic circle began to emit a dazzling light and spin. Watching it, Simon couldn’t help but exhale in awe.
‘Beautiful…’
They say a magic circle is like an ecosystem.
Simon couldn’t grasp every formula or flow within it, but he was certain—this was the most intricate and refined circle he had ever seen. And it was beautiful.
“This curse is called Compellonia.”
Bahil spoke.
“It forcibly opens the compéllo of the target.”
“Compéllo?”
“It refers to the absolute truth realm that great necromancers sometimes enter. You’ve experienced it yourself, haven’t you?”
Bahil’s lips curled upward.
“In every battle, or every critical moment, haven’t you unknowingly caused extraordinary miracles?”
Simon’s body trembled.
Of course he had.
Countless times.
When he transformed an Island Ratman Skeleton into a Gray Rat during the first class, when he wore the Prince’s Crown and used Corpse Explosion without ever learning it, when he cut down a Saint, when he sanctified zombies and caused a holy explosion.
Those were miracles.
‘...And I can forcefully open that realm?’
* * *
“Professor!”
As Simon exited the lab, the senior assistant Chehekle, who had been nervously waiting nearby, rushed in.
“Nothing weird happened, right? You didn’t pull some strange stunt on a student again, did you?”
“Of course not. Everything went well.”
Bahil smiled contentedly and gestured for them to head outside.
As they walked away from the lab, Chehekle let out a quiet sigh.
“Do we really need to go this far…”
“It’s understandable to feel slighted when attention that was once solely yours is now divided, Chehekle.”
“Please process the resignation I submitted the other day.”
“Oh, come now, can’t even joke around anymore.”
Seeing Bahil laugh out loud—unlike his usual demeanor—Chehekle shook her head.
“I do have a question, Professor.”
“Go ahead.”
“You worked hard to develop that magic circle for Simon, but don’t you think you were too vague in your explanation? Knowing your personality, I expected you to spoon-feed every detail to your prized student.”
Bahil let out a faint chuckle.
“I spent the entire first semester trying to draw Simon into Katarology and failed. But I’ve learned a lot from those failures.”
“Oh?”
“Simon isn’t someone you guide that way.”
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
“This is something better shown than explained.”
Bahil and Chehekle cast recognition-disrupting curses on themselves and entered the Keyzen Library. It was after afternoon classes, and many students were seated at desks, studying.
It didn’t take long for the two of them to spot Simon.
Thud!
He set down a towering pile of curse theory textbooks, placing the one he’d just received from Bahil in the center and studying it.
‘He’s absolutely loving this.’
Chehekle glanced at Bahil’s expression and thought.
“To sum it up, it’s something like this. No matter how much interest I show, that could be a burden to others.”
“Wow, and you only just realized that. Truly amazing.”
“That’s how you tame Simon. Not by spoon-feeding him, but by giving him strong motivation so that he seeks knowledge on his own. Just look how deeply he’s immersed in curse studies.”
Bahil said with satisfaction. Chehekle shrugged.
“Well, glad you learned something from failure. But those aren’t the kind of curses a first-year can master through self-study, are they?”
“He’ll come to me when he hits a wall. I told him, after the curse theory class, if there’s anything he doesn’t understand or wants to ask about, he’s welcome anytime.”
“So it’s like a follow-up session. This is just like... wait, hold on!”
Chehekle narrowed her eyes.
“This is exactly how Professor Aron teaches summoning!”
Bahil’s expression flickered for just a brief second before returning to normal.
“I don’t see why Aron-senior is being brought up here, Chehekle.”
“I knew it! You’re copying Professor Aron’s style! I thought it was odd how you suddenly seemed to understand human emotions!”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Chehekle let out a sigh as Bahil feigned ignorance with a straight face.
“Simon!”
Just then, someone called out to Simon.
The two turned their heads. It was the boy who always hung around Simon, Dick Hayword from Class A.
“Hey, traitor! You’ve been studying by yourself again?”
Simon gave a sheepish smile.
“Just doing it for a bit.”
“Tomorrow’s the weekend! Maelyn says the four of us should go hang out at Professor Hongpeng’s villa!”
“Oh, seriously? I’m totally in.”
Simon quickly stood and began gathering his textbooks. Bahil, who was watching Dick, started trembling with fury.
Chehekle suddenly grabbed him in a tight hug and shouted,
“Hey, you maniac! What spell were you about to cast?! You can’t curse a student!!”
“If it goes unnoticed, there’s no problem.”
“Ah! You crazy bastard professor, seriously...!”
* * *
The weekend passed in a flash.
During the weekend, Simon studied new Haematology techniques and Bahil’s four-curse set. In his spare time, he visited Feer’s ruins to train in Legion command operations.
Then came the announcement from Keyzen: the second BMAT test would begin this week.
Students, who had assumed it would start next week at the earliest, were thrown into chaos and rushed to prepare.
Rumors had spread far and wide by now.
Keyzen had taken rather blatant action, dubbed “sweeping up all weapons across the kingdom”, and on top of that, rumors were flying that they were gathering treasure hunters and trap specialists from across the country.
Even the professors were tailoring their lessons around defensive and detection-type black magic.
Thus, most students believed the theme of the upcoming exam would be Dungeon Exploration and were preparing accordingly.
They opened treasure hunter study groups and studied trap disarming. Some fast-acting students even hired real treasure hunters and took lessons via communication orbs.
Everyone at Keyzen was bustling, doing everything they could to survive.
“A shame it’s not the kind of information war I prefer.”
Dick said on the way to the cafeteria. From his perspective, the information had spread far too easily.
“From Keyzen’s side, though, it makes sense to design the test so students have a chance to prepare.”
“Yeah, right.”
Maelyn, walking beside Simon, offered a counterpoint.
“Since when has Keyzen ever been considerate of its students like that?”
Kamibarez nodded in agreement.
“Wouldn’t it be more Keyzen-like to suddenly drop a completely unexpected twist, contrary to everyone’s predictions?”
“Hey now. Remember how Professor Aron said during the opening ceremony that the theme could be extreme? That means even top students marked by Keyzen might fail. Like last time, in the first test, that Recon or whatever from Class B, who scored 90 in Spiritology, got dropped.”
“So you’re saying there are too many variables.”
When Simon chimed in, Dick eagerly nodded.
“Exactly! More than anything, the point of these school tests isn’t just to assess skills—it’s to push students’ motivation. So yeah, I think it’s really going to be about dungeon crawling and trap evasion!”
“So.”
Simon pointed at Dick’s outfit.
“What’s with the getup?”
Dick was wearing a flashy gold necklace, fashion-type subspace rings on all ten fingers, and a designer jacket over his school uniform developed by the latest trendsetting artisan.
Dick chuckled darkly, “Hehehe!”
“I made some cash recently, so I decided to enjoy myself a little!”
“Made some cash?”
“The moment I got wind of the exam, I bought out all the treasure hunter books and sold them for 1 gold apiece.”
Maelyn and Kamibarez jumped in outrage.
“What! That’s robbery!”
“Dick! 1 gold is insane!”
“It’s not robbery, it’s business sense. They wanted to buy them, who am I to stop them? And get this, some guys even resold them for 3 gold.”
“Making money’s fine and all.”
Simon gave Dick a concerned look.
“But you do realize, if you flunk the test, it’s all meaningless, right?”
“...Hm?”
As if that thought had never occurred to him, Dick clapped his hands together.
Maelyn clicked her tongue in exasperation.
“Simon!”
Simon turned his head. A familiar face—one of the summoning department assistants—was running toward him.
“Professor Aron is calling for you, immediately!”
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters