Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner

Chapter 117

Simon blinked.

"The most important function?"

"Yes. Try sensing the ring on your finger and pressing your left foot on the ground."

When Simon gently stepped on the dirt with his left foot as Gelen told him, it felt like he had pushed down a pressure plate, and a faint magic circle was drawn on the ground with his left foot as a center.

"Now, the user should be able to see a virtual magic circle. Activate the magic circle by pouring in jet-black."

'Activate a virtual magic circle? How am I supposed to do that?'

Simon was confused, but he poured a small amount of jet-black into the magic circle.

Whaaaap!

A dark flame lit up in one corner of the magic circle, adding vividness.

'So that's how you do it.'

There was no complicated process. A virtual magic circle formed on its own just by letting jet-black flow.

"That state right now is called 'set mode'. Set mode is deactivated when the left foot is released from the floor."

When Simon removed his left foot, the magic circle really disappeared as if melting into the air. When he stepped on the floor again and poured in jet-black, a magic circle formed and it returned to 'set mode'.

'How amazing!'

A childlike smile crept across Simon's lips.

"Now, what you can do in set mode is rather simple. The user can open up to six subspaces simultaneously."

Simon froze.

"Six?! Simultaneously?!!"

"Yes, try looking around."

Before Simon knew it, six faint magic circles were floating in the air.

"If no other settings are chosen, a subspace will open at the location of this virtual magic circle that's visible only to the user. Activation is simple. You can say the activation word 'open in your mind. You can speak it from your mouth, too."

Simon nodded and took a deep breath.

Just like hed practiced, he made an imaginary target in the air and had the Overlord focus on that spot. But this time

"Open!"

Whish!

Whiiiiissshhh!

Whiish!

Six magic circles opened, and six tentacles immediately poured out, piercing the air.

Simon shouted out of surprise in spite of himself.

Benya, standing next to Simon, also clapped, her eyes wide open. Simon exclaimed,

"Gelen! You're a genius! How could you think of a subspace like this?"

"Ahaha! The work-in-progress used as the base was made to open multiple subspaces from the beginning. Somehow, a quirk of fate had me modify it to be an exclusive subspace for the Overlord. It was a rewarding job for me."

Gelen raised his index finger.

"But I told you, right? This subspace has to produce an output different from a normal subspaces, so"

"there would be a risk."

"Hahah! Yes. That's right. Can you feel it?"

Simon looked at the ring in his left hand.

"The ring became hot."

"Yes, certainly. If you open too many subspaces at once and too often, the subspace will gradually become overloaded."

Simon looked puzzled.

'It's a subspace where you can open six gates at the same time. Isn't the ring getting a bit hot hardly a risk?'

"There will be times when you'll have to keep opening the subspaces in actual battles. If you keep overusing the subspace, the ring will get hot enough to burn you, and if you keep going, it'll finally go kaboom."

Said Gelen, imitating an explosion with his hands.

"In the worst case, your fingers could be blown to bits."

"Ah."

Just thinking about it made Simon's fingers hurt.

"Of course, as long as you don't overdo it, there's no problem. All you need is common sense and self-control. Stop the activation if the ring gets hotter than the limit, and wait patiently for the ring to cool down. If you do these two things, I'm confident there will be no problems."

'So I can't overuse it.'

Simon nodded.

"And to prevent frequent overloading of the subspace, I recommended using an average of 4 gates rather than opening all 6. But it'd be good to use 6 as an ace in the hole in case of an emergency."

After the explanation, Gelen bowed his head.

"That would be all. Is there anything that you're curious about?"

"So much! First of all......"

Simon poured out question after question. At the same time, in his head, he was thinking of how to most efficiently operate the Overlord.

'With this'

Simon felt his confidence grow.

'With this, I can win with my strength alone.'

* * *

* * *

That night, in the first-year boy's dormitory.

"Its almost the weekend!"

Shouted Rick, jumping into his bed.

"Simon! Wanna hang out somewhere with Meilyn and Cami tomorrow?"

"Sorry. I've already set up a special training schedule."

Simon had his Duel Evaluation with Malcolm right after the weekend. Until then, he had to somehow shift and improve his Overlord control to fit the new subspace.

"I guess it can't be helped if it's against Malcolm."

Rick rested his chin on his pillow in disappointment, but he seemed to understand.

And the next weekend, the real torture masked as training began.

"Didn't I tell you? It's up to you to start, but finishing it is up to me."

Even on the weekends, Aaron went to Kizen to handle Simon's Overlord training. This time, the training was using it to block the bones that Aaron shot out.

The weekend training was so intense that if anyone else had seen it, they would've thought Aaron was trying to kill Simon.

Simon was also willing to train, going until he was exhausted. With this training, he got a sense of how much it took for the ring to get hot.

[Heh! That professor in Kizen is too necromancer-centered! Training without a complete understanding of the undead is meaningless!]

Pier had a strange rivalry with Aaron and called Simon to the ruins. He was already exhausted from Aaron's training, but he wasn't the kind of person who would refuse someone offering to train him.

[Even if you attack through a subspace, the essentials don't change! Read the Overlord's thoughts and make the most effective attack!]

"Okay!"

After training with Pier, he returned to Kizen and stopped by the Mutant club room.

After all, if Simon went to the point of exhaustion and beyond, the Overlord must have also been overworked from the training.

"Simon!"

"You're here."

"Oh, you guys."

Even though it was the weekend, Toto and Fitzgerald were assembling a skeleton together in the club room. Simon grinned.

"You guys have become pretty close."

Toto scratched his head.

"Hm? Is that so? Haha."

"Shut up and help us assemble this."

"Fine. When you're done, please help with mine as well."

After finishing the skeleton assembly, Simon took the Overlord out of his subspace, and the two helped spread the medicine on the dry parts of the body.

"Wait."

Fitzgerald stood up and stroked the side of one of the Overlord's limbs. Simon got frightened and said,

"Be careful! It's dangerous if you touch it carelessl!"

"This limb is a little bit strange."

Fitzgerald was staring intently at the Overlord's tentacles. Simon shrugged.

"Really? It all looks the same to me."

"Yeah."

"Hmm."

After pondering for a while, Fitzgerald looked at Simon.

"I think the stitcher put more effort into this limb. Try connecting to the Overlord's thoughts and stretch the tentacle out longer."

"Longer?"

"Yeah, as if unfolding it."

Fitzgerald was weird, but Simon thought that he was saying this with some basis again.

Simon closed his eyes and stretched the tentacles to their full lengths. In this state

'Unfold!'

Ordered Simon through the mental connection. The Overlord reacted unusually.

The limb trembled before then dropping.

Considering how the Overlord would ignore an impossible order, it was a bit strange.

It seemed like it failed, not like it couldn't.

'One more time!'

Simon gave the order again. The Overlord's tentacle trembled and soon started to squeak.

'Keep going! Don't give up!'

As he continued to give the order, the bones that seemed closely pressed stretched out as if a spring was released.

The fully extended limb length was 50% longer than the other limbs.

"Told you, right?"

Fitzgerald smiled triumphantly.

"I believe that the stitcher wanted to add this function to other legs but failed, so he just glued the rest in place. I think this is the only leg that can be extended."

Simon jumped up and held Fitzgeralds hands.

"Thank you, Fitz!"

"Huh? Yeah."

"I got a really important hint!"

Simon's eyes lit up.

It was great to be able to pull out an unknown variable.

Simon thought that he might be able to create a powerful winning formula.

* * *

* * *

The weekend was gone, and the morning of the Duel Evaluation had come.

Kizen greatly increased the number of outside spectators for this Duel Evaluation.

Representatives of the Kingdom, officials from institutions, and even scouters. Swaths of people visited Roke Island to observe this public Duel.

"The stadium is over here!"

"Please follow the rules!"

And the ones suffering were the servants sent to wrangle the nobles.

Lena, a four-year-veteran dorm manager, also took part in controlling the event, but it was torture.

"Ahem! Do you even understand who I am?!"

"Can't we talk to the students for even a moment?"

"No! Absolutely not!"

Lena desperately faked a smile, but internally she was screaming in pain.

'Ah! Sons of bitches, these people don't really wanna listen despite being old enough to understand. For real!'

Nobles were highly prideful creatures, so they were unsettled with following the orders of servants. And while constantly flaunting their status or wealth, they'd talk so loudly that a servants ears would bleed if the noble felt they were being mistreated

Lena thought that, compared to them, the troublemakers in the students were nothing.

'Ah.'

At that moment, Lena saw a middle-aged man who had been fiddling with his mustache starting to sneak out of the line.

Lena opened her arms to stop him.

"You can't enter! It's strictly forbidden for civilians to visit areas other than the stadium!"

"Do you not know who I am?!! I'm Count Sorio. I just wanna see my son's face"

"Absolutely not, Count! Please go through the formal procedures in the case of a visit!"

"My goodness, you're such a one-track mind."

Count Sorio took a sack of gold coins from his pocket and pushed it to her chest.

"I'm not allowed to take it! Kyah! P-Please don't do this, Count!"

"Ahem Keep it, keep it."

While the two were arguing, Count Sorio signaled with a slight wink.

Whish!

Two men following behind him suddently started running to the first-year campus.

"Two people are making a break for it!"

"Stop them!"

The servants and assistants freaked out and chased them.

However, these men weren't just ordinary men. They activated their cores in an instant and went ethereal, making the assistants behind them grab only air.

'They were necromancers!'

Nothing good could come from them breaking through. The assistant teachers shouted to each other and chased after them, but the two who etherealized didn't slow down.

The moment they reached the steps of the first-year campus

Clang!

A chain flew through the air and bound the two men.

'W-We're in ethereal forms! How?'

There was no time to even question it. The two men, caught in chains, were swung around in circles before landing on the ground right behind Count Sorio.

Thud!!!

A thick cloud of dust rose. After a while, it settled enough to reveal the two men with their heads stuck in the ground. Their legs shook, shook, and then went limp.

Clamors.

Other nobles who saw that scene sneered or covered their mouths with fans.

Count Sorio's face went bright red.

"How dare you do this to my vassals! R-Reveal yourself!"

"Here I am."

Tap. Tap.

All the assistant teachers and servants that were seated shot upright with nervous faces and parted to let a woman walk through.

She had short hair and took extremely restrained movements. Her cold purple eyes gave off a solemn atmosphere.

'K-Kizen's Vice President, Jane Olivia!'

She strode forward and stood in front of Sorio.

"You don't have to worry about your dear son. We're taking good care of him. Contact like this is not allowed."

It was the first time he had ever seen such a great necromancer up close.

Sorio said while trembling with fear,

"I-Is it that bad for me to see my son?!"

"Once enrolled, before being your son, Count, he is a necromancer of Kizen. And"

As she rotated her palm, two potions from the pockets of his vassals floated up. Count Sorio's face turned pale.

"Even if you sent something like this to your son, it wouldn't be able to change the outcome of the match."

"!"

"Anyhow, since you visited our school, I hope you have a great time here."

She walked away, and Count Sorio bowed his head in resignation.

Then, a young woman in a dress within the mass of nobles waved her hand.

"Jane! Jane!"

"Ah, Princess."

Jane smiled and approached her.

"So you came."

"Yes! Coming to Kizen's events is the only joy in my life! Ah."

She lowered her voice to a whisper and asked Jane,

"What do you think of the special admission no.1 this time? I heard that hes quite unprecedented."

Jane made a wry smile.

"Aren't you supposed to ask about your brother first, at least as a matter of courtesy?"

"Like I care about him! A so-called prince is making a strange faction called Noble or whatever? Sigh, nothing changed since he was in the palace, y'know?"

She grumbled and looked at Jane again.

"So, do you think that special admission will do well? There's a Duel Evaluation between him and another special admission today! I'm really looking forward to it."

"Yes, you may look forward to him."

Jane smiled softly.

"After all, he's under my care."

"What?"

"Well then, I must go. I have work left to do."

Jane walked away after bowing her head. The princess giggled, covering her mouth.

"Jane really said that? That's a first."

'I wonder what kind of power he will use.'

She headed to the stadium with a pounding heart.