Chapter 364
Summonology Hall.
3rd floor practice room.
Like a monk in meditation, slowly drawing up his concentration, Simon opened his eyes.
In front of him, on the desk of the practice room, lay ‘hearts’ placed on plates.
They were experimental hearts from toads or small mammals, arranged so that from left to right, their sizes gradually decreased. Naturally, the smaller the heart, the higher the difficulty.
"Ready?"
Standing behind him, Summonology Professor Aron was holding a timer. Simon nodded firmly and replied.
"Ready!"
"Begin."
Simon strode toward the heart placed furthest to the left.
First, he floated a few auxiliary tool magic circles in the air, wrapped the heart in Cloud, and levitated it. Then, being careful not to burst it, he engraved a miniature magic circle onto its surface.
‘First ring.’
The magic circle activated. Darkness slowly arched outward, forming a circle around the heart.
"Done!"
Even when Simon released his hand, the heart remained suspended in the air. Aron nodded.
"Good. Next."
Around the heart, a single ring was flowing diagonally, rotating clockwise. Simon constructed another ring beside it, this one flowing counterclockwise.
‘Second one’s okay too.’
In truth, this was where the real hurdle began.
Inside the two rings crossing in an X-shape, he had to create the smallest ring, the third ring that moved left and right across the heart.
Simon carefully raised both arms.
‘Focus…!’
He drew a magic circle onto the heart, and just as he completed about half of the third ring that would synchronize with the others—
Pop!
The heart burst as if it exploded. Blood splattered in all directions, threatening to make a mess, but it was blocked by the transparent barrier Aron had set up beforehand.
"You rushed it."
Aron switched off the timer in his hand.
"If you’re so desperate to make the third ring that you fail to understand the flow of the other two, this is what happens."
"…Ah."
"You must understand the harmony of each element, Simon."
Aron demonstrated himself. Engraving a magic circle on the heart suspended in the air, he quickly deployed two rings.
"Now watch carefully how the third ring is formed."
Thump! Thump!
By black magic, the heart was still beating. Aron drew the magic circle and added the third ring.
The third ring was not drawn at a constant speed from start to finish. According to the heartbeat, it would stop, then be drawn, stop, then be drawn again.
"Adapt to the harmony, and accept the flow."
When the first ring completed one rotation, and the second ring reached 0.8 rotations, the third ring began its operation.
"Like parts of a piano. Understand how a small component can influence the whole."
Thus, the third ring was completed.
It moved left and right across the heart, and the time it took to reach each end matched the heart’s beating pace.
‘I see.’
It wasn’t simply about placing a perpetual ring around the heart, it was as if the pumping heart itself was moving all three rings.
‘Harmony.’
These three simple rings moving around the heart, Simon thought, were the pinnacle of elegance.
"Do not think of the Life Vessel as merely the heart of an undead."
Aron spoke in a low voice.
"It is the act of giving a living, breathing heart to the chest of the dead. It is a ritual closer to creation than to mere summoning, so approach it with reverence. Abandon the thought of ‘it’ll work somehow’, control everything from start to finish."
"I will keep that in mind."
Aron lifted the timer again.
"There are still many hearts left. Try again."
"Yes!"
Simon failed again and again, bursting several hearts in succession.
But with each failure, he found points of improvement.
‘I have to cling to it to the end.’
He did not fear failure.
Every time he stumbled, he picked up one more piece toward success, shoved it into his pocket, and ran again.
‘What was the problem just now?’
In his mind, he recalled the theory, refuted himself, and repeated the cycle.
The more samples there were, the higher the reliability of the hypothesis would be.
As failures piled up, he built a higher and higher stepping stone.
And finally—
"Today alone, on the 16th attempt, the 216th attempt in total."
Aron turned off the timer and spoke.
"Congratulations on your success, Simon."
Before Simon’s eyes, the three rings spun in harmony.
His pupils half-dilated, he stared blankly at them, a tingling thrill surging through him as he clenched both fists. Then—
"Yes!"
Throwing both arms high over his head, he collapsed.
His whole body was soaked in sweat and splattered blood from the hearts, but the sense of accomplishment made him smile.
Aron, watching his student with satisfaction, turned away.
"Clean up and then come out."
"Yes! Thank you, Professor!"
Just as Aron opened the door to leave the practice room—
"Huuhk?!"
A strange sound came.
Standing there with hunched shoulders, holding a fluffy towel and a water bottle, was Kamibarez.
"Ah, ah, ah! Hello, Professor Aron!"
Her face flushed bright red, Kamibarez bent her waist in greeting.
Aron gave a faint smile.
"Kamibarez Ursula. Do you have business in the Summonology practice room?"
"Ah, um, well…"
"I’m joking. Go on in."
"Y-yes!"
Kamibarez ran inside, calling Simon’s name.
"Seems school life is going well."
With an uncle-like smile, Aron shoved his hands into his pockets and shuffled away in slippers.
* * *
"Alright~ you guys ready?!"
Afternoon Toxicology class.
Toxicology Professor Belya shouted loudly.
"Swallow!"
The students all swallowed the pills they had in their mouths. In an instant, hives broke out all over their bodies.
"Form blood poison, stimulate your immune system, and trigger your resistance! As soon as the hives disappear, raise your hand and get checked by the assistants!"
Simon closed his eyes and focused on the flow within his body.
It was a continuation of Belya’s immune system training from the notorious ‘poison-eating class’ that had been a big topic since the start of the semester.
Now it was beyond simply enduring poison, the performance evaluation was on how quickly one could adapt, create antibodies, and stabilize the body when a harmful foreign substance entered.
Simon’s black magic in the ‘Dark Poison System’ was average, but in this immune system class, he was unmatched.
The turning point had probably been during the ‘Desert Scorpion’ hunt with Kamibarez.
Infected by the monster’s venom, Simon had lost consciousness and fallen into a dangerous state, but in the end, he had overcome the poison.
Since then, Simon’s resistance system, based on black magic, had risen to an exceptional level. In Class A, he was the fastest one whose hives were already fading.
Chuk!
Finally, confirming in the mirror that there were no more hives on his face, Simon shot his hand up. The assistant, seeing this, checked the timer.
"Student Simon Follentia! Six minutes, ten seconds!"
Murmurs spread among the students.
The head assistant checked Simon’s condition one more time, then wrote Simon’s name in the first-place slot on the board.
"Student Hector Moore! Six minutes, forty-three seconds!"
"Damn it!!"
Hector slammed his fist onto the desk in frustration. Seeing this, Belya burst out laughing.
"Hey, nice work, Dragon! Second place is still good!"
Hector quickly changed his expression and bowed politely to Belya. Dick, watching this, chuckled, calling him ‘Two-faced Hector’.
In the end, although times varied, every student in the class succeeded in forming their resistance system.
"Well, you’re all doing it easily now. That’s it for today’s class! Have a good weekend~"
"Thank you!"
Thus ended Belya’s Toxicology class, the last class of the day.
Simon and Dick were chatting idly on their way back to the dormitory when two other male students from Class A, also aspiring Toxicology majors, caught up to them.
"Simon! How on earth did you raise your resistance ability?"
"Teach us a bit!"
As there was nothing in particular to hide, Simon told them the story of the Desert Scorpion hunt he’d gone on with Kamibarez.
Hearing the story, the two male students’ faces paled.
"D-do we have to get stung by a Desert Scorpion too?"
"You do know that’s basically suicide, right?"
Dick snickered, telling them not to even dream about it.
As the four boys were engaged in their trivial banter, they spotted a girl peeking around outside a practice room.
She wore a short skirt, heavy eye makeup, and her cream-colored hair made her look like she was searching for someone.
"Wow."
One of the boys let out a pure exclamation.
"Who is that girl?"
"Hey, hey. Watch your mouth."
Dick flinched and signaled him to be careful.
"She’s a second-year senior."
For first-years, the second-years at Keyzen were an absolute presence. The boy hurriedly covered his mouth.
"Ah!"
At that moment, the second-year senior waved toward them.
"Comrade~"
"?"
Wondering who she was calling, they all looked around, and Simon’s eyes went wide.
"Senior Benya!"
After excusing himself from the others, Simon ran over to her. Left behind, Dick and the two male students looked on with envious faces.
"Benya, as in that Benya Vanilla?"
"…Life."
The two greeted each other warmly and exchanged a few words.
Then, Simon, looking excited, grabbed Benya’s wrist and began to run. Surprised, she shouted, "Wait, Comrade!" as she was pulled along.
"Ohhh."
The three boys’ envy only deepened.
"…Simon’s bolder than I thought."
"Dick!"
Just then, Maelyn and Kamibarez came running up.
"Where’s Simon?"
Dick shrugged.
"He was dragging a beautiful senior by the wrist and running off somewhere."
"What?"
"Huh?"
Kamibarez and Maelyn’s expressions froze at the same time.
* * *
At last, the time had come.
—The Life Vessel heart you ordered has arrived! It’s in Rochest right now.
The moment to create the long-dreamed-of Lich had arrived.
Tonight.
Simon intended to begin Lich production.
"Come with me~!"
When Simon turned around, Benya was running toward him from a distance, gasping for breath. No matter how much she stepped on Darkness, she couldn’t match Simon’s speed.
Realizing belatedly that he had gotten too excited, Simon stopped walking.
"Sorry!"
"Ah, really!"
Benya opened subspace, pulled out her Skeletal Horse, and vaulted onto it in one motion. Spreading her arms, she shouted,
"Grab on!"
Thwak!
Simon grabbed her hand, stepped onto the Skeletal Horse’s body, and mounted behind her.
"Ever ridden a horse before?"
"Yes! Shall I take the reins?"
"Please do."
Benya swung her legs to the side, and Simon leaned past her to take the reins.
The Skeletal Horse sped at full pace, arriving in Rochest in no time.
"We got here in an instant!"
Simon, dismounting first, took Benya’s hand like a gentleman to help her down.
"Thanks."
She stepped lightly onto the ground and stored the Skeletal Horse back into subspace.
"This way, let’s go!"
"Yes, Senior."
At this recent Pentamonium Academic Conference, Simon had earned a large sum of money, and now he was determined to spend it properly.
What Simon had ordered from Vanilla this time was The Heart of Herseba.
Worth no less than twenty-five thousand gold, this material for a Lich’s Life Vessel was, at this very moment, in Rochest.
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters