Chapter 401
Simon and Bahil sat face to face, talking.
“I thought you were going with the students for their advancement exam.”
“My part was done, so I returned. Hector took first place, I heard.”
After a few simple greetings, Bahil dove straight into the main topic.
“How was it?”
“Pardon, sir?”
“In this recent incident, you must have used Compellonia. Did you not?”
His voice was laced with anticipation. Simon hesitated for a moment before nodding.
“Yes. I used it.”
No sooner had he answered, Bahil’s face twisted into a bizarre expression.
A smile, pleasure, ecstasy.
Simon flinched unknowingly. The man who had always been gentle and kind was now showing an expression so raw and primal.
“It’s over! Hahahahahaha!”
Then he burst into loud laughter.
Bahil twisted his body and sprayed spit as he laughed like a banshee, and Simon’s pupils trembled at this unfamiliar sight.
“Then you must have seen it too! The totality of knowledge beyond the Gate!”
Overcome with excitement, he began to speak in rapid-fire, exaggerated gestures.
He spoke too fast to fully comprehend.
Bookshelves.
Library.
Librarian.
Those were the words he kept repeating.
‘Something’s not right. I didn’t see any of that when I used Compellonia.’
Just then, Bahil suddenly stood up.
“My ambition is the same.”
His eyes gleamed with madness as he continued.
“I will curse this world.”
“!”
Curse the world?
What does that mean?
Simon instinctively held his tongue and waited for the rest.
“Of course, it won’t be easy. But if you and I join forces, it’ll be possible. A power that changes the rules and laws of the world itself! Truly—”
He opened his palm.
“—a power that can rule the world.”
Everything was moving so fast, it was hard to keep up.
Simon asked,
“Professor, do you… want to rule the world?”
“Of course not. I’m a necromancer to my bones. I have no interest in politics or governance. I’m simply curious—how far can I go in the time given to me? And,”
Bahil’s eyes glimmered.
“If I can curse the world, I believe I can build a more ideal society.”
“…An ideal society?”
“For example, imagine a curse placed upon the world: ‘Death to murderers’. That alone could stop countless tragedies like war and massacres.”
He continued speaking, intoxicated by his own vision.
“It’s also possible to eliminate hypocrisy and lies. Hunger and poverty, too. A utopia would be born. And we, in the truest sense…”
His voice rang out sweetly.
“…would become gods of this world.”
“……”
Simon closed his eyes.
He understood Bahil’s ambition well enough. But his story had a gaping hole in the middle.
The reason he revealed this value system and ambition—one that could be condemned—was because Bahil believed Simon would understand him.
Why?
“Professor.”
Simon raised his head.
“I’m sure of it now. You and I are headed in different directions.”
At those words, Bahil looked genuinely shocked.
“Different? How could that be! Why! Don’t tell me… using Compellonia was a lie?”
“I definitely used it.”
“Then the Librarian of the Shelf…!”
“Yes, about that.”
Simon cut him off and continued.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Only then.
Bahil’s maddened expression twisted strangely, the corners of his mouth twitching.
“You didn’t go to the Librarian’s library…? Then what did you see?”
“When I activated Compellonia, what I saw was darkness. And in it, a being who resides there, able to do everything yet doing nothing.”
Simon spoke in a flat, emotionless voice.
“It was a being that could only be described as ‘God’.”
Thud!
Bahil stumbled back until his back hit the wall of the hospital room. He slowly collapsed to the ground.
“You… went beyond the Library? There was something beyond that?”
Simon straightened his back as well.
“Thanks to the Compellonia you taught me, I survived. You’re my savior, and I’m truly grateful. However—”
Simon bowed his head deeply and looked up again.
“It seems there wasn’t only goodwill in your decision to teach me that technique.”
“……”
“I’m going to seal away Compellonia from now on. And as for this conversation about your ambition, I’ll pretend I never heard it.”
And with that, Simon—
“I’m truly sorry.”
—rejected Bahil’s offer to become his direct disciple and major in Katarology.
* * *
Step, step.
Having left Simon’s hospital room, Bahil staggered toward his lab.
His gait was unsteady, like that of a drunkard.
‘…I had absolute confidence in Simon Follentia.’
His arm trembled as though reacting to a drug side effect.
‘When people called him a genius or prodigy, I scoffed. I felt superior. Because Simon is beyond those words. Even the word “genius” is too small. Simon is someone who will change the paradigm! I alone in this world truly understand and believe in his worth!’
As he staggered along, he suddenly punched the wall with a loud bang!
‘And yet!’
His pupils trembled.
—It was a being that could only be described as ‘God’.
Bahil scratched his head with bloodshot eyes. His sharp fingernails tore his scalp, drawing blood, but he didn’t stop.
‘Even I, Bahil… underestimated him?!’
There was only one mistake.
He had assumed Simon went to the "Library", the cradle of rationality, upon opening the Gate of Compellonia.
If Simon had gone there, he would’ve understood that curses were the most efficient means to change the world and would’ve joined Bahil in his ambition.
I understand only you and you understand only me.
That kind of bond should’ve been formed.
But Simon had gone beyond even the Library. Perhaps past several more stages, reaching the very end and witnessing that entity.
Which now raised the question: Who in the world is Simon Follentia?
Is he even human?
“H-Hahahahahahahaha!!!”
Now, even Bahil could no longer understand him.
* * *
There were still two days until the first-year students returned.
The top scorer in the substitute exam had already been decided, but time was needed to calculate the detailed rankings and scores for mid- and low-tier students.
Simon, too, was still recovering in the infirmary. He aimed to be discharged in time to participate in the advancement ceremony when everyone returned.
And—
‘Hector came in first, huh.’
Simon still had one final first-year event left.
Hector would never back down, whether Simon had recovered or not. And Simon, too, strongly wished to settle the score with Hector before the year ended.
To defeat Hector, who was now at his peak even without Herseba.
‘I’ll need to master Chaos.’
Simon raised both hands.
He had learned a new technique from Farahan. It was a holy-blood infusion for patients suffering blood loss, mixing holiness into the blood and spreading it quickly throughout the body. It was called Holy Blood.
He raised his left hand and drew blood through a magic circle, mixing it with holiness. The red blood turned a faint, gentle pink.
Then in his right hand, he summoned Cloud.
He slowly brought both hands together at the center.
Sssssssss!
Darkness and Holiness were opposites, but both Cloud and Holy Blood were based on Simon’s SM-1. As the two forces mingled, they turned into a storm, swirling chaotically.
The two clashing energies finally transformed into a single orb. The pink of the Holy Blood deepened into a violet hue.
A smile formed on Simon’s lips.
‘Perfect.’
Chaos.
He felt he had named it rather well.
Even now, in its unified state, it showed no regularity—merging and dissolving repeatedly. Like a violet storm, compacted and held in the palm of his hand.
Since Farahan taught him Holy Blood the night before, he had come this far. Now he was experimenting with ratios, trying to find the golden balance.
When Simon showed him Chaos, Farahan's expression had been priceless.
—Tomorrow morning, I’ll send someone I trust. Show them Chaos. They’ll help you figure out how to use it.
It was almost time for that person to arrive. As he focused on the sound of footsteps in the hallway, Simon continued refining Chaos.
‘But who exactly is this person who’s supposed to help me with Chaos...?’
Knock knock.
There was a knock at the door. Simon, having let his guard down due to the lack of footsteps, flinched and jumped in surprise.
He quickly scattered Chaos into the air and said,
“C-Come in!”
Creak!
And then, someone he had never expected walked in.
“Hahahahaha! First time seeing you since the first semester, Simon Follentia!”
A man whose entire body was hazy, and whose legs had turned ghostly and floated in the air like a spirit.
It was Keyzen’s energetic professor of Spiritology, whom Simon hadn’t seen for the entire second semester.
“P-Professor Umbra!!”
Since Simon couldn’t sense Spirits during the first semester, he had dropped Spiritology from his schedule in the second.
Which made this visit all the more surprising.
“Yes, I remember when you took my class! You couldn’t sense spirits, but you were a student who danced the Dance of Awareness quite well!”
Simon flushed with embarrassment.
“Uh, well…!”
“Haha! If you dropped my class, that’s quite all right!”
Umbra was the kind of person whose lower half was a spooky ghost, but whose personality was full of cheer and energy.
“More importantly, Professor Farahan told me! That you have something to show me?”
“Ah. Yes, sir.”
Now that he thought about it—why Professor Umbra?
What did Spiritology have to do with Chaos?
Though a bit puzzled, Simon decided to demonstrate the magic.
‘I can’t let him notice I’m using holiness.’
He drew Umbra’s gaze by summoning Cloud in his right hand, then reached his left hand behind his back to summon Holy Blood.
Soon, the two forces merged.
After a while, it transformed into an orb containing a violet storm.
“This is a new technique based on my Cloud. I call it Chaos.”
“Hmmm…!”
Umbra’s eyes grew wide as he examined Simon’s Chaos.
“Indeed! Now I understand what Professor Farahan was talking about! May I take a closer look?”
“Of course.”
Umbra unfolded several magic circles around them and began scanning and measuring various reactions.
“Truly fascinating!”
Umbra grinned.
“Yes, it’s confirmed! Though temporary, this undoubtedly possesses properties of a Spirit!”
Simon jerked his head up.
“S-Spirit?!”
“Yes! Astonishing!”
Umbra explained that while it didn’t function exactly like a true spirit—it didn’t have ghostly effects—the fundamental structure was compatible.
“You learned what Spirits are back in the first semester, yes?”
“Uh, no.”
Simon only remembered the bizarre dances and turning the Ouija board until he nearly collapsed.
“Then I’ll explain it slowly! I’m getting excited.”
He snorted through his nose.
“Since you’re a Summonology student, it’s best to explain it from that angle! You know what spectral-type undead are, yes?”
“Of course! Like Banshees, Wraiths, Phantoms, right?”
“Exactly! In ruins and old abandoned houses, you’ll often see Wraiths—common spectral undead. Spirit is the substance that forms those spectral undead!”
He spread his hand, and a magic circle was drawn in the air.
“Necromancers convert Darkness into this substance called Spirit, which contains the soul! This technique allows us to use the power of spectral-type monsters! And this is—!”
Tuk-WAK!
A transparent spear shot out from the magic circle.
‘Using black magic indoors?!’
Simon flinched in shock, but the transparent spear simply passed through the wall and struck a tree far in the distance.
“This is the foundation of Spiritology!”
“A-Ah…!”
It pierced the wall. It was a power that ignored the laws of physics, something unique to Spiritology.
“Your technique, Chaos, seems to exhibit powers beyond defying physical laws! I also see compatibility with spirit magic!”
He spread his arms wide, and ten magic circles made of Spirit lined up in a row.
“These are representative spells of Spiritology! By testing which ones work and which don’t, we can determine the direction to go from here!”
“A-Ah…!”
Umbra was extremely excited.
Feeling slightly awkward, Simon spoke up.
“P-Professor, aren’t you too busy to be helping me with this?”
“……”
Umbra slowly lowered his arms.
“In fact, among the first-year professors, Special Admission No. 1 holds a special place.”
Umbra had often watched Simon shine using black magic from other fields—Summonology, Magical Combat, Katarology—and felt a deep regret.
He had been envious when Aron and Walter completed the Blood Golem and played a key role in Simon’s success.
Umbra’s one regret was that he hadn’t been able to gift Special Admission No. 1 even a single spirit-based spell.
He had often wondered, what if Simon had talent for Spiritology, too?
“But life! Life is interesting precisely because we can’t see what lies ahead!!”
Umbra grinned, showing his teeth.
“And now, here you are—Special Admission No. 1, revealing a hybrid skill compatible with Spiritology!”
“…Haha.”
Umbra clenched his fist.
“There’s not much time left in the first year. But tell me, haven’t you felt even a small bit of regret over skipping Spiritology?”
Simon nodded firmly.
“I’d be lying if I said no.”
The 7 great courses: Summonology, Katarology, Haematology, Magical Combat, Toxicology, Pure Magic, Spiritology.
Since coming to Keyzen, he had wanted to study all seven. The idea of skipping Spiritology simply because he lacked talent had always left a pang of regret.
The two men’s eyes sparkled.
“Come, let’s give it a try.”
Umbra opened his arms.
“Let’s see just how far you can go.”
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters