Chapter 603
A few days later.
At last, the day of the “Single Undead Operation” practical evaluation had arrived.
The gathering place for the Summonology students was the Keyzen Underground Dungeon, located within Roke Island.
Clatter, clatter—
Rocking with the shaking carriage, Simon stared blankly with a tired face. Around him, the other classmates were chatting noisily.
“Keyzen’s underground dungeon. It’s a famous place.”
Fitzgerald pushed up his glasses.
“It’s a sort of super-sized prison, filled with countless monsters captured from across the continent.”
“Simon and I have been there once before!”
Toto said that, then glanced at Simon.
“Right? Simon.”
“That’s right.”
It had been a long time.
That enormous cave seen outside the window. A year ago, back in their first year, Class A had taken their very first practical evaluation there, hunting Cyclopes in groups.
“Simon, are you okay?”
Sitting across from him, Loraine asked worriedly.
“You look really tired.”
“......Haha. I’m just a little nervous, that’s all.”
Simon replied, then subtly turned his head aside.
‘Only got thirty minutes of sleep.’
Up until the final moment of completion, it had been a blood-splattering battle... no, a struggle of production.
Creating an undead was nothing but a chain of endless variables. Attempting to make just one more undead with special materials would probably cost him his life.
Either way.
With an inspired expression, Simon clenched his fist tightly.
‘I completed it.’
He was so eager to test it out in this exam that he could barely sit still. During the entire carriage ride, he kept imagining opening his subspace and summoning the newly-made Dullahan.
Before long, the carriage stopped and the students stepped down one by one. The teaching assistants who had come out to greet them bowed politely.
“The professors are waiting.”
“Please follow us.”
The moment they entered the dungeon’s entrance, Simon felt the heavy air fill his lungs. The damp, humid space reeked of mold, and the cries of monsters echoed from far away.
The students’ eyes darted around as they took in the sights of the underground dungeon.
“My goal is to see the angel said to be sleeping on the very bottom floor here before I graduate!”
On the way to the exam grounds, Eshu made that kind of remark.
Toto, walking beside her, picked up on it.
“......Ah, that school mystery.”
“Believing in such a legend is a matter of intellect, however.”
Fitzgerald added, once again pushing up his glasses.
“Angels don’t exist.”
“There are Saints, so angels could exist too! But hey, Glasses Guy, why are you always hanging around our group? Go back to yours!”
“......When I’m with Serne, it feels like my memories start blacking out here and there.”
Perhaps burned a few times by Serne, Fitzgerald occasionally wandered over to Simon’s Team 10. Having Simon and Toto around seemed to provide him with some psychological comfort.
Thus, while exchanging trivial chatter, the Summonology students continued teleporting through multiple magic circles inside the dungeon.
The structure of teleportation arrays within the prison was immensely complex, and even students who tried to keep track of direction eventually gave up.
‘We’ve come really deep.’
It was on a whole different level compared to their first year.
What kind of things awaited them here?
Simon straightened his school tie and firmed his resolve.
“Ah!”
“It’s the professors!”
After quite a long trek, they finally reached their destination.
A wide underground clearing opened up before them, and there, all the professors of Summonology were gathered.
Professor Aron, the head of the department and instructor for Intermediate Summonology. Professor Grerion, who taught Summon Materials Science. And the twin professors Lin & Rune, who were in charge of Summon Funerology.
Behind the professors, the full staff of assistants stood at the ready. Seeing them all gathered at once, the students were reminded of just how large their department was.
But that wasn’t all. Simon lifted his gaze to the upper tier.
Those are Keyzen Headquarters officials. And—
“The Elders are here too.”
Loraine murmured. She seemed to recognize them, staring quietly at the elderly men whose skin was blotched with age.
Eshu hopped up and down, pointing excitedly.
“Lady Loraine! Look, the Crows are here too!”
“And over there, must be rich folks. Some of them are wearing like ten rings each!”
Since this was practically the first proper field evaluation after their second year began, public attention was heavily focused.
It was partly a showcase.
For the students, this was an opportunity to demonstrate their ability before the great figures of the continent. Of course, each achievement here would impact their future and careers.
“Attention.”
Aron stepped forward.
The students instantly hushed and fixed their eyes on him.
“Welcome to the Keyzen Underground Dungeon. You’ve all prepared well for your first large-scale practical evaluation, I trust?”
“Yeeees, sir!”
The students roared in unison.
“The importance of this evaluation goes without saying. Not only will I be grading you for Intermediate Summonology, but Professor Grerion, and Professors Lin and Rune will also evaluate you according to their respective subjects.”
The students swallowed nervously.
All three core major courses were interlinked. This was no ordinary exam.
“And as has already been announced, this evaluation is titled ‘Single Undead Operation’.”
He scanned across the students, then suddenly spoke.
“Coiter Fizen.”
The surroundings grew silent. A student quickly realized it was his name being called and shot his hand up.
“C-C-Coiter Fizen, sir!”
“Self-assessment.”
Aron’s calm voice continued.
“If you were to grade the undead you prepared for this exam, from F to A, which would be most appropriate?”
“......Eh?”
A heavy silence fell.
Not only his classmates, but also the professors, and the powerful figures, Elders, Headquarters staff, and the senior Crows watching with interest from the second tier.
Sweating bullets, Coiter clenched his fists and shouted bravely.
“O-Of course, A-grade!”
His last syllable cracked and squeaked off pitch. Laughter broke out here and there.
Face reddening, Coiter insisted,
“I-I really mean it! I’ve prepared so hard for this exam I barely slept! I even put aside the midterm exams and devoted myself fully to this...!”
“So you’re saying you slacked off on your midterms.”
Aron’s offhand comment made Coiter’s face flush even redder.
“N-No! I didn’t mean it literally, it was a figure of speech! I just meant I worked that hard for this evaluation!”
“Ooooh—”
Some students whistled playfully. Hector’s faction chuckled, muttering, “What a dumbass.”
“Then good.”
Aron turned his head.
“Eldarin Luo.”
“Eek! Y-Yesyesyes! Eldarin Luo here!”
A female student shot her hand up. Her fingertips, peeking out of her uniform sleeve, were trembling visibly.
“Self-assessment.”
“Uh, I, I...!”
She glanced nervously at Coiter, who had spoken before her, then shut her eyes tight and blurted,
“I’m A-grade too! I believe my Dullahan is in perfect condition to pass any test!”
Then, Aron began calling on students one after another, wherever his gaze landed.
“Laubel Brenmers.”
“Eshu Arzel.”
“Guinevere Venners.”
The majority of students raised their hands and confidently declared A-grade.
Aron’s tone was light, and more importantly, the assistants weren’t even recording the grades the students called out. It seemed he was simply letting them voice a little determination and loosen their nerves before the test.
If that was the case, then— as a necromancer, showing confidence was far better than trembling in fear.
The most humble were those who conscientiously answered B-grade, or students like Toto, who cautiously answered C-grade.
No one went below that.
“Hector Moore.”
When his name was called, Hector replied with a casual face.
“Is there no S-grade?”
Hahahaha!
His faction roared with laughter, patting him on the back. Having secured a Guardian to forge his Dullahan, Hector looked more confident than ever.
With a smirk tugging at his lips, Hector fixed his eyes on Simon, just as Aron spoke.
“Simon Follentia.”
Simon kept a poker face as he answered.
“I’d also like to grade mine the highest.”
“Very well.”
Ending with Simon, Aron swept his gaze across the students.
“Most of you said A-grade. Then by that measure, everyone here is equally the top performer, no? Isn’t that so?”
“......”
A subtle tension rippled through the crowd.
“Confidence and boldness are good. But a necromancer must always remain cool-headed. The performance of your summon can and should be predicted before battle. What materials were used? What formulas applied? Was there any damage during the process? Were any elements missing? Is the movement smooth? How much Darkness can it sustain?”
Aron’s eyes swept over the students as he spoke.
“A hunter must know his weapon well, or he’ll starve. Only when he knows how far his arrow flies can he close to the proper distance and hit his prey. It’s the same for a necromancer. No matter how much passion you poured into creating a summon, you must measure its capability with cold objectivity. If you underestimate it, you waste Darkness and reduce efficiency. But if you overestimate it—”
His tone grew heavy.
“In the worst case, you die in battle.”
“......”
“Evaluate your summon with precision, and whether you can make use of its full potential or not, that will be decided in this exam.”
Aron snapped his fingers.
The assistants activated the prepared projection devices, and a giant mana screen spread out in the air.
“Now I will reveal the rules of this practical evaluation.”
The screen displayed the inside of the underground dungeon’s testing grounds. Inside, countless monsters swarmed.
“That is where you will take your test.”
Simon’s eyes glimmered as he looked at the monsters teeming inside.
There didn’t appear to be any overwhelmingly strong ones. Judging by danger level, they ranged from second-class to third-class. Which meant—
‘It’s a one-against-many battle.’
Back in the first-year evaluation, five students had fought a single powerful monster.
Now, in their second year as Summonology majors, each student would pit a single summon against all those monsters.
“The time limit is fifteen minutes per person. Within those fifteen minutes, you must eliminate every monster in the testing ground. According to the previously announced ‘Single Undead Operation’ rule, you may only use one summon. You yourselves cannot enter the arena.”
The students nodded firmly, having expected as much.
“Seems doable enough.”
“Yeah! Yeah!”
“With a Dullahan’s firepower, that’s nothing.”
Dullahans were monsters that could exert immense force in a short burst. Just before midterms, Professors Lin & Rune had even held a special lecture on using a Dullahan to channel aura and unleash slashing waves.
Most students who had studied diligently in that lecture showed little fear.
“But now, a new rule will be applied.”
At Aron’s words, the students quickly turned their heads back to him.
“The number of monsters to be hunted in that room, will be decided by you.”
A wave of chatter burst out.
‘We choose the number of monsters?’
The students had assumed it was a time-attack rule, evaluating how fast one could clear an equal number of monsters.
But something subtler had been added.
“Don’t overthink it.”
Aron continued his explanation.
“Right before the test, you will tell the dungeon master how many monsters you intend to hunt. The dungeon master will then release that number of monsters, chosen randomly, into the arena. You must use your undead alone to slay them all. Your score will be equal to the number you declared and successfully killed.”
The screen shifted to show an example: a Skeleton Archer, operated by an assistant, was hunting monsters.
The archer skillfully picked them off one by one, destroying twenty monsters within the fifteen-minute limit.
“In this case, the test-taker destroyed twenty monsters within the time limit, so they score twenty points.”
The straightforward rule made students nod slowly.
“That’s not too bad.”
“Right.”
Then the mana screen changed again.
A skeleton knight clad in heavy armor was chasing monsters, but the weight of its gear slowed it down. The fifteen minutes expired, and it failed to kill the last monster.
“This test-taker declared thirty monsters, but missed one.”
Simon’s eyes narrowed.
‘Then it should be one point off... so twenty-nine points—’
“In this case,”
Aron said gravely,
“It’s zero points.”
Murmur, murmur, murmur!
The students’ faces went pale as they erupted in alarm.
“Zero for missing just one?”
“Th-that’s unfair!”
Aron clapped his hands once, quieting them.
“What is unfair about it? The number of monsters is decided by you.”
“......!”
The noise died instantly.
“To avoid such a disaster, evaluate your summon and declare the proper number. Call too few, and you’ll lose to competitors who dared to call higher. But call too many, and you’ll pay the price for arrogance. That is all there is to it.”
Aron’s lips curved upward.
“Many of you claimed A-grade. Let’s see just how boldly you can decide, now that risk is on the line.”
And thus.
The brutal first large-scale practical evaluation of the Summonology Department began.
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters