Chapter 478
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The train descended deep into the cavern. So deep, in fact, that it was impossible to guess where the end lay.
“So there was a place like this inside Roke Island.”
The deeper they went, the more bizarre and grotesque sights appeared. Severed monster heads dangled in bunches from ropes, and something that looked like the long stomach of a beast coiled like a snake, twisting and writhing.
“Eek!”
Terrified, Toto clung tightly to Simon’s arm, screaming at every sound.
“...S-Simon. When this class ends, do you think we’ll get to see sunlight again?”
“Don’t worry. We’ll be fine.”
Simon smiled lightly, trying to reassure him, but Toto still flinched at every little noise. Beside them, Hector sat with his chin resting indifferently on his hand.
—Aaaaargh!
—Kyaaaaaa!
Suddenly, screams erupted from the train ahead. They quickly faded into echoes.
“There must be something up ahead!”
Toto’s face turned pale.
Creak— Creak-creeak—
Catching the subtle shift of the rails and the change in slope, Simon stretched his legs until they pressed against the end of the carriage. Hector also braced himself, gripping the train tightly with both arms.
“Toto.”
“Y-yeah?”
“Hold on tight.”
Just as Toto tried to reply, his hair shot upward.
Ahead lay a steep, downward track plunging into darkness.
Shhhhhh!
The train suddenly began a rapid descent.
“Kyaaaaaah!”
Students screamed, Toto the loudest of them all.
Being small, Toto nearly flew from his seat until Simon grabbed his left arm, while Hector grimaced and caught his right shoulder.
“Waaahhh!”
“Just hang on a little longer, Toto!”
Creak-creeak!
At last, the train slowed and came to a halt. The teaching assistants of Summon Materials Science spoke up.
“Alright, students. Please disembark here.”
Stumbling, the students rose one by one. Simon supported the dazed Toto, while Hector coolly walked off alone.
‘Where is this...?’
It was a place that looked like it had been pulled from myth—a true altar of darkness.
At the center of the circular space stood a massive altar, surrounded by tables. Strange undead materials lay atop them, or hung from long hooks attached to the ceiling.
Candles flickered against the walls, and shallow water channels ran along the floor. The gaps were narrow, so there was little risk of stepping into them by accident.
Simon could not imagine what kind of class would take place in such a place.
Finally, the last train arrived, and the rest of the students disembarked. All wore frightened faces as they took in the gloomy cavern.
“Students, step away from the tables.”
The assistants herded the students to the wall, where they folded their hands respectfully.
“Professor Grerion is now entering.”
From the shadowed end of the altar—where no light reached—a sudden flash of blue flared.
Simon immediately recognized it as the glow of a teleportation magic circle.
Thoom—
Thoom—
Heavy footsteps echoed through the cavern. Students saw a massive figure advancing from the shadows.
Stifled screams escaped several throats.
A musclebound man emerged, carrying the bloody corpse of a giant boar monster across his shoulders.
‘T-that person…’
‘He’s... the professor?’
Thoom— Thoom—
The oppressive aura froze the students’ breath. With each step closer, the cave shook with his presence.
When the man dropped the monster onto the altar, thud!!—the entire cavern quaked.
Simon’s eyes sharpened.
‘I see traces of battle.’
Had he been fighting right up until he stepped through the teleportation circle? His skin was marked with small wounds. The monster twitched faintly, its legs spasming.
Chak!
Professor Grerion turned to the wall and pulled down two butcher’s knives.
He clashed them together—shring, shring—before advancing toward the monster with one in hand.
Thunk!
He stabbed the blade into its belly.
Schhhhkkk!
In one motion, he ripped it downward, splitting open the stomach. Steam-like vapor and a surge of blood stench filled the air, making the students recoil.
Thus began the dissection show.
Professor Grerion’s knife moved without hesitation. Each slash, each plunge of his hand into the body, pulled forth organs that still twitched and pulsed.
Hssssshhh!
From behind him, Darkness surged forth, tracing magic circles in the air and branding them onto scattered body parts.
Chak! Clang!
Knives of different shapes and sizes spun under his Darkness, rotating until, with a mere gesture, the professor summoned whichever one he required.
A display of astonishing multitasking.
“Chimera, Agandero.”
He attached freshly harvested materials to others hanging from the ceiling, then dropped them onto the floor. A grotesque organ with eyes began crawling about.
“Chimera, Wozzak.”
“Chimera, Admo.”
Using the boar’s corpse, he assembled chimeras on the spot.
He grafted legs onto zombies missing limbs, stuffed hollow undead with innards to reanimate them.
Chak!
Clang!
The students, half-dazed, watched as more and more chimeras piled onto the floor.
Legs scuttled on their own, arms merged with tails of monsters under black ichor, organs stitched together into writhing Abominations.
Finally, he severed the boar’s head, then grafted it as a third onto a two-headed beast, creating a triple-headed chimera. Wiping blood from his face, he laid down his knife.
From a single monster’s corpse, twelve chimeras were born in moments.
Though the demonstration had ended, the students were too overwhelmed even to applaud.
“I am Grerion.”
At last, he spoke.
“You.”
His hand stretched out—and once again, poor Toto was chosen. He stiffened, hiccupping in terror.
“Y-yes, sir! Toto Amoriya...!”
“Tell me what a chimera is.”
Toto’s face froze as he searched for words.
“It... it means a being formed by combining two or more living creatures...!”
“The most basic definition. Then you.”
He pointed at a girl nearby.
“It’s an undead created by a necromancer’s forced grafting, combining multiple powers into one.”
Grerion nodded, walking forward. Then suddenly, he snapped his head toward Simon.
“A chimera is the epitome of practical lifeforms.”
His eyes gleamed fiercely.
“If a necromancer has two or more creatures—or undead—at hand, they can forge monsters of unmatched might. For summoners, whose familiars are quickly consumed in battle, this is an essential tool.”
He cracked his neck with an audible crunch.
“In my prime, when my summons ran dry, I raided a ranch on the fief’s outskirts, assembled ten pigs, and used them to annihilate an entire fortress.”
“...!”
“For a necromancer, battles like that are part of the path.”
His lips curved upward.
“What was the name of this class again?”
“Summon Materials Science, sir!”
“It’s part of the official curriculum, so I can’t change it... but I don’t like that name.”
He slowly swept his gaze across the students.
“Let’s call it Chimera Design Theory. You’ll learn not only the study of materials, but also how to use them to forge powerful chimeras. All of my material science exists for one purpose—to create stronger chimeras.”
He picked up a twitching piece of monster flesh from the floor, grinning grimly.
“Welcome to the forbidden realm.”
* * *
For modern summoners majoring in Summonology, the art of chimera-making was indispensable.
There had even been an age once referred to as the “Era of Chimeras”, when necromancers’ skills in creating them had reached incredible sophistication. Countless runes, formulas, and techniques derived from chimera studies had influenced nearly every branch of summoning magic.
In fact, from the second year at Keyzen Academy, most summons could not even be used without knowledge of chimera-related techniques. It meshed directly with Aron’s Intermediate Summonology Major.
Of course, beyond academic requirements, Simon thought there was no downside to learning how to make chimeras.
“Begin the grafting.”
Fortunately, in this first chimera class, they did not begin with animals or monsters.
Before each student sat a potted flower and a water tank containing aquatic plants.
Their first task was to graft the roots of the aquatic plant to the ornamental flower, creating a hybrid that could float on water without withering.
The core challenge was to preserve the traits of both plants while drawing out the aquatic plant’s advantage—survival on water.
“Align the cut surfaces of the two plants. Bind them with magical tape to hold them together, then cast the acceleration spell. When the wounds heal, water, nutrients, and plant hormones will begin to circulate between the two.”
Simon calmly joined the flower and aquatic plant, then floated it in the tank.
Beside him, Toto attempted the same, but his flower quickly withered, and its roots sank. In contrast, Simon’s graft remained vibrant.
‘Success!’
Simon smiled with satisfaction as he withdrew his hand.
‘Chimera-making... This is actually fun.’
A chimera manifested the strengths of both species simultaneously.
Even with a simple graft, one could produce a plant bearing potatoes on its roots and tomatoes on its stem. With black magic layered atop—and undead as the materials—the resulting transformations could defy human imagination.
Living chimeras had to be made from similar species to avoid rejection, but undead had little to no such resistance.
Of course, their duration and lifespan were never guaranteed.
‘Now it really feels like I’m a true major student.’
Indeed, the depth of second-year techniques was leagues beyond the first-year basics of handling skeletons or zombies.
“To create a chimera, vast knowledge is required.”
Grerion lectured.
“No two chimeras in this world are ever identical. Even if you used the same two monsters to create a thousand chimeras, the formulas would always differ. What matters most is not talent, but complete understanding of the living beings you use as materials. Memorize every page of the handouts I give you.”
Groans of despair rippled through the students.
* * *
After class, once the students had left, the assistants began cleaning up.
The cavern was drenched in blood from the giant monster’s dissection. Grerion himself stayed behind, giving orders as his chimeras squelched away into the depths of the cave.
Zap!
Suddenly, blue light flared at the far end—the sound of a teleportation circle activating.
Grerion straightened to greet the visitor.
“You’ve come, Aron.”
Aron brushed back his long, unkempt hair and bowed.
“It’s been a while, Professor.”
“To think the rookie I once knew is now the professor in charge of second-year Summonology. Time truly does fly.”
Grerion chuckled, while Aron sat down with a weary sigh.
“How were the students?”
“I heard this year’s intake included some promising ones. And indeed, there were faces worth noticing.”
Hector, Aseraz, Loraine, Serne—and Simon Follentia, the current Student Council President.
“How was Simon Follentia?”
“Didn’t stand out much.”
Grerion replied plainly.
“It’s only the first class, and they merely grafted plants. Hardly enough to judge. Assistant! Bring me Simon’s work.”
“Yes, sir!”
One of the assistants retrieved Simon’s plant-in-tank. Both professors examined it.
“It’s complete, but ordinary. Perhaps chimera studies aren’t his talent.”
Grerion pulled the graft from the water and unwound the tape.
“...!”
His eyes widened.
The grafted seam was nearly perfect.
“He used something other than the black magic I taught.”
Aron smiled knowingly.
“That’s just like him.”
“What do you mean?”
“When I taught Skeleton Mage, he went ahead and made a Lich.”
Grerion’s eyes gleamed.
“So that’s the kind of student he is...”
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters