Category: How to Live as a Magical Genius at the Academy

“There are a lot of people who misunderstand biotype magic. They think it’s just support magic focused on healing.”

The first lecture that freshmen attend—Applied Biophysical Enhancement.

Professor Murselt of the Biologial Department stood on the podium, raising a thickly muscled arm to show off his bulk.

“But that’s a huge misconception. Few types of magic are as practical in combat as biotype magic.”

As he said that, Murselt threw the ball in his hand.

Bang!

With tremendous speed, the ball flew across the room and landed cleanly in the teaching assistant’s hand at the back of the lecture hall.

The students gasped in awe as the assistant caught it without flinching.

“The pinnacle of modern biotype magic is enhancement. By reinforcing the body’s physical abilities, you can achieve things a normal human never could.”

Bang!

This time, Murselt caught the ball tossed back by the assistant.

It seemed he had enhanced not just his strength, but his reflexes and visual acuity as well.

“Whoa, that’s insane…”

Charis, sitting nearby, let out a low whistle.

Though He was physically capable himself, throwing or catching a ball like that was likely out of the question for him.

“I have to join the baseball club now.”

“……”

Looks like his thoughts were going in a completely different direction from mine.

“Some people think the ideal mage rains down flashy attack spells to crush their enemies from a distance. But that’s not the only style for modern mages.”

As he said this, Murselt turned to the blackboard and began writing in large letters.

“A combat style where you close in and take the enemy down at close range… This is what we call a melee-type mage.”

Melee-type mage.

I’d heard the term before, but this was the first time I’d heard it explained in detail.

“But don’t get the wrong idea and think melee mages are just spellcasting brawlers. While physical strikes are part of it, the essence is delivering powerful spells up close with speed and precision.”

“……”

“In close combat, a mage needs strength, stamina, and agility. And to meet those demands, they rely on various other magic types as well. For example, even just using wind-type magic can boost your speed. I bet many of you here have already learned movement spells using the wind element.”

Cain, Senia, and several others nodded.

“But in the end, the thing you have to rely on the most is your own body. No matter how well you manipulate wind, there’s no substitute for just moving your limbs yourself.”

With that, Murselt raised both arms.

His biceps swelled—ripping his sleeves in the process.

“Use biotype magic to enhance your entire body! That’s how you’ll become stronger than anyone!”

“……”

Some students clapped in admiration, but others looked uneasy or uninterested.

It was understandable—most aspiring mages were brain-over-brawn types, so this kind of physical emphasis probably felt like too much for them…

---

“Some of you might’ve been misled by that muscle head’s lecture, but the most important aspect of biotype magic is healing.”

In the next class, Biophysical Healing, Professor Sylvia offered a different perspective.

“Of course, that’s not to say enhancement magic is useless. But the mage’s primary role is not to engage in hand-to-hand combat.”

“……”

“A mage’s greatest advantage is the ability to fight from a distance. It’s better to avoid situations that require close combat and body enhancement magic altogether.”

She swept back her silver hair and continued in a calm tone.

“I’m not saying don’t learn enhancement magic. It’s useful in situations like long marches. But don’t be fooled by that muscle head’s sweet talk and start dreaming about becoming a melee mage. That’s a path only a select few, with the right aptitude, should pursue.”

Even though they were in the same department, Professors Murselt and Sylvia didn’t seem to get along.

“So the type of biotype magic you should focus on now is healing magic. It can treat all kinds of wounds, illnesses, and poisons. It’s the ultimate survival magic—maximizing your chances of making it out of any situation a mage might face.”

Survival.

The moment she said that word, several students’ eyes lit up.

They knew what was coming: the dungeon survival test.

“Just imagine going into a dungeon. The monsters aren’t the only threat. You might think a mosquito bit you, but then you’re suddenly burning with a fever. Or you breathe in some smoke without realizing it’s toxic gas. In those cases, only biotype healing magic can save you.”

“Ah…”

Many students nodded in agreement.

Now they understood why the practical evaluation was structured like a survival test.

“And while it may not apply to you yet… there are biotype mages who specialize in harming others’ bodies.”

“……!”

“Let’s say you’re in a duel, and the enemy mage gives you a headache using biotype magic. Do you think you could still cast your own spells properly in that state?”

Just imagining it was terrifying.

Modern magic is constructed and activated mentally.

If your mind is clouded with pain or dizziness, you’d have a hard time forming spells properly.

“That’s why you must study biotype magic seriously. No matter what your specialization is, it will always be useful to you.”

Satisfied by the students’ now-serious expressions, Sylvia smiled gently.

“Well then, let’s begin the main lecture. Everyone, open your textbooks.”

---

“Professor Sylvia had her say, but for a lot of us, biotype enhancement magic is actually more important.”

“That’s true.”

After class.

Cain, Senia, and I were having dinner together, chatting about the biotype magic lectures.

“For Senia and me, who specialize in close-range combat, enhancement magic is essential.”

“Whereas for someone like Eriol, who focuses on long-range spells, it’s probably less of a priority.”

“Even so, I don’t think enhancement magic should be neglected.”

I spoke while munching on a mountain of fries.

“Professor Sylvia herself said it’s useful for things like marching. There’s really no downside to learning enhancement magic.”

“Hmm… that’s a good point.”

“Especially since I’m physically weaker than you two.”

I’d done my best to stay in shape, but there was no way I could match Cain or Senia, who had been thoroughly trained since childhood.

“Both enhancement and healing magic will be essential in the Dungeon Survival.”

“Yeah, we’ve got to last three days and two nights in the dungeon.”

As the name suggests, Dungeon Survival is a practical test where students must survive inside a dungeon.

Of course, it’s not dangerous enough to put their lives at risk.

Assistants from the Biological Department are stationed throughout the dungeon to rescue any students in critical situations.

However, to earn a high score, the key is to endure until the end without any help from the assistants.

“There will probably be continuous situations in the Dungeon Survival that will be difficult to handle without using Biotech magic.”

“Since the test is hosted by the Biological Department, I’m sure they’ve designed it so that we have to use that type of magic.”

“We’ve still got plenty of time, so we’d better prepare thoroughly.”

Cain was relatively relaxed.

I’d heard before that the Trigger family also provided survival training.

“So, we’re forming a team of three this time, right?”

“Yeah, if you two are okay with it, I’d like to team up that way.”

“Please take care of me.”

Dungeon Survival is done in teams of three.

Teaming up with Cain, who’s from the Trigger family and skilled in survival, and Senia, one of the top students in the advanced class, should give us a good shot at a high score.

“Alright, if we’re doing this, let’s go for first place.”

“That’s the plan.”

“Haha. You’re more confident than you let on.”

Cain laughed and gave my shoulder a light tap.

“By the way, how big is that dungeon called the Catacomb? Can all the first-years even fit inside?”

At the time of the entrance ceremony, there were 1,021 freshmen.

But quite a few have already dropped out, so there are apparently about 900 now.

“We won’t all go in at once. They said it’ll be split over several days. Our top and upper rank classes will probably enter during the same time slot.”

“With the upper class…”

The upper class includes Helios and Charlotte.

Helios is practically a dungeon veteran, and Charlotte’s skills are formidable too.

Most likely, the team they’re part of will be our biggest competition.

“Just like in the last dungeon raiding contest, monster kill points will also count toward the ranking. Though there won’t be any item boxes this time.”

“The number of monsters will be limited. And the students from the top and upper classes will have to split them up.”

“As time goes on, the number of monsters will dwindle, so the competition will only get fiercer.”

The three of us had the exact thought.

“Then our strategy is clear.”

Cain smiled as he spoke, and Senia and I both nodded.

“Yeah, we’ve got to hunt monsters faster than anyone else.”

“To get a high score, that’s definitely the way to go.”

While most students will prioritize securing food, water, and a place to sleep to survive… we’ll take a different approach.

“And the preparations for that are already coming along nicely.”

---

“So, Eriol asked you for something weird, huh, Hephaestus?”

“What, how’d you figure that out?”

When he stopped by to check on the magic quad carriage, Kaisel’s remark made Hephaestus chuckle.

“Just so you know, I’m not helping them unconditionally. I’m actually the one assigning the tasks.”

“Tasks, huh.”

“Yeah. Things like, ‘Bring me these materials,’ or ‘Try completing this spell.’ Stuff like that.”

“So you’re going to make weapons for Eriol and the other students?”

“Not weapons. Exploration tools for Dungeon Survival.”

They were making full use of the loopholes in the school rules.

Even if someone raised a complaint later, there’d be no risk of Eriol or Senia getting punished.

“So you’re planning to earn their favour and lure them into the Production Department?”

“What’s wrong with that? I was originally only interested in Eriol, but Senia’s not bad either.”

“Then you’d better help them with a little more care.”

“What?”

“You never know what could happen in the Dungeon Survival.”

Hephaestus blinked at Kaisel’s unexpected tone.

“What are you talking about?”

“If it were inside the Academy, the professors could rush in to help. But the Catacomb where the survival test is being held is far from campus. If something happens, the Biotech assistants might not be enough to handle it.”

“…”

“If you really care about those two, you should send them in with equipment strong enough to keep them alive no matter what happens.”

Hephaestus looked flustered.

Was Kaisel onto something?

“Ever since this year started, there’s been a strange atmosphere around the Academy. Starting with the terrorist incident before the entrance exam, there’ve been one incident after another. Most were handled quietly without much damage… but once you’re outside the Academy, there’s no telling what could happen.”

“Hey, do you have any proof or something?”

“No proof. If I had any, I would’ve acted already.”

“…”

Hephaestus scratched the back of his head.

If even this legendary genius was saying this, it was probably best to just follow along for now.

“Fine, I get it.”

“…”

“If you’re going to push me this hard, I’ll just give them something even better. Just don’t complain if they end up joining the Production Department out of gratitude.”

Saying that, Hephaestus began rummaging through the materials piled nearby.

“In exchange, you’re going to help too.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You brought it up first.”

Hephaestus raised his chin and grinned.

“Let’s combine my Creation aptitude with your Dissolution aptitude and make one prototype. For the first time in a while.”

The genius Kaisel and the master craftsman Hephaestus.

Two of the Academy’s top talents were about to create an incredible gift for the freshmen.

 

“…Isn’t Deathvice a little too strong?”

As a test, I roamed around the forest area and hunted other monsters.

Unlike ordinary skeletons, Deathvice approached its targets silently without the usual rattling sounds… and slaughtered the monsters using only its limbs.

“It’s truly amazing.”

Senia spoke in an excited voice.

“Eriol, even if it’s a dragon soldier, it’s not supposed to be stronger than it was in life, right?”

“Yeah. It depends on the necromancer’s ability, but at most, it’s about seventy percent of its strength when alive. And this time, I didn’t even use a dragon’s fang, just a drake’s fang, so its combat power should actually be lower.”

“And yet, it’s still this strong…”

“Senia, in your opinion, what level was it at in life?”

“When it was alive, it must’ve been an incredibly powerful warrior. Even by the standards of the Artian family…”

Senia put a hand to her lips and fell into thought for a moment.

“Even in its current state, it could easily hold its own against veteran swordsmen. If you armed it, it would be even stronger. I bet it was the kind of warrior no one could take on in life.”

“That strong, huh…”

It seems I really summoned the skeleton of someone extraordinary.

Was it just luck?

‘Maybe it’s because I used Summon Dead after having fully understood the contents of the Necromancer’s Codex?’

The Necromancer’s Codex — one of the six forbidden tomes.

Even if it was only an excerpt, I had thoroughly familiarized myself with it before summoning the dragon fang soldier.

As a result, perhaps the resonance of the Baleful energy was amplified to its limit, letting me summon a hero far beyond what I could normally manage with my current skills.

‘Either way, I’ve gained an incredible ally.’

Even someone like me, who knows little about combat, could see how impressive Deathvice’s fighting technique was.

It didn’t seem like it had overwhelming strength or speed, but it excelled at striking the enemy’s weak spots with deadly precision.

Its skeletal body must have retained its battle instincts from life.

‘Once I get more skilled in necromancy, its power and speed will probably improve too. Which means it could get even stronger.’

And then… what if I gave Deathvice a weapon?

A sword or a spear — if I armed it with something like that, it might actually become strong enough to take on an army alone.

The very thought made my heart race.

‘If I use this right, it’ll be a huge asset.’

A dragon fang soldier isn’t just useful for dungeon monster hunts.

We could probably use it in the upcoming practical evaluation as well.

‘There’s that large-scale assessment coming up soon.’

A huge practical test, even bigger than the rookie torunament we had before midterms.

I’d definitely be able to use the fang soldier there.

‘It’s a test where we don’t need to worry about the professors’ opinions either, which makes it even better.’

I had already been planning a strategy for the next evaluation.

But now that I knew how powerful the dragon fang soldier was, I’d have to revise my plan.

‘I need to make sure I can score big. No room for half-measures.’

The next big practical test… was a dungeon survival evaluation.

And I’d just come up with the perfect strategy to take first place.

---

“Professor Piotr!”

Klein visited the headquarters of the Necromancy Department — the Necromancy Research Lab.

Despite it being a day off, Piotr was in his office as usual.

“What is it, Klein?”

“Is it true you summoned a bone dragon and flew off somewhere with Eriol?”

“……”

Last Friday, after the Intro to Necromancy lecture, Piotr had called Eriol aside.

Then, he had summoned a bone dragon using Summon Dead and disappeared into the sky with Eriol on its back.

Klein had only recently gotten wind of this and had rushed over to confront him.

“Professor, what did you say to Eriol?”

“Do I need to tell you that?”

“Eriol is a student in the top-rank class I supervise. You can’t just take him away like that…”

“That was after class. He’s free to do as he pleases.”

“Ugh…”

“I understand why you’re so worked up.”

Piotr placed a hand on the skull ornament on his chair’s armrest as he spoke.

“You’re worried I might have done something shady to recruit Eriol Valencia into the necromancy department, right?”

“N-no, I didn’t go that far…”

“You’re right, Klein.”

“Huh?”

“I did something I can’t exactly go around telling people about. That’s why I summoned the bone dragon and flew high into the sky, where no one could overhear us.”

“…!”

Klein realized his hunch had been correct.

Mages are often known for using any means necessary, but the Necromancy Department had a reputation for being especially brazen in that regard.

“Professor… did you give Eriol something special?”

“Special? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

If it were just a normal gift, Klein wouldn’t care too much.

He already knew that Professor Hephaestus from the Producing Department had given Eriol a prototype item not long ago, and he hadn’t made a fuss about it.

But if Piotr, a master necromancer, had taken Eriol somewhere and handed over a secret gift… that was dangerous.

“Professor, if you cross the line, I won’t stand idly by.”

“You’re just afraid you’ll lose a talented freshman to the necromancy department, huh?”

“No. My job as an advisor is to protect students from going down dangerous paths.”

“……”

That was a genuine answer.

“You’re still young. Very young, Klein.”

“Well, I am actually young.”

“I’ll remember that.”

Piotr tapped his fingers on the armrest with amusement.

“But don’t worry.”

“Pardon?”

“Eriol Valencia isn’t the type to fall so easily. I can guarantee that.”

“……”

“I’ve watched a lot of mages over the years — I know the type.”

Klein felt conflicted.

He couldn’t get a read on Piotr’s true intentions.

“But… it’s true that I want to bring Eriol into the necromancy department. And I’ve done everything I could to make that happen.”

“Professor…”

“If you want to bring him into the Transcendental Department, you’d better step up your game. Maybe get someone at the head professor level to help out.”

“……”

 

There was some truth in what Piotr said.

If rumors spread that the Necromancy Department had started making serious moves, the other departments would also begin to act more aggressively.

Klein had been trying to build a relationship with Eriol by using his position as a supervising professor, but… it didn’t seem to be yielding any results. It was clear that a drastic measure was needed.

“Next up is probably the Biological Department. Doesn’t their Biotech class start soon?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

The Biological Department.

A department that studies biological magic, focusing on effects on the human body and other living organisms.

Starting next week, they would begin teaching the top-rank class.

“And the large-scale practical evaluation organized by the Biological Department is coming up soon too.”

“It’s a joint evaluation with the Transcendental Department. Since it takes place in a dungeon.”

“That’s true.”

The Ars Magna Academy doesn’t only have access to the Labyrinthos dungeon.

There’s another dungeon called the Catacomb, located on a deserted island that can only be reached by a long boat ride.

Unlike the Labyrinthos, the Catacomb has been completely conquered, and now serves as an external training facility for the Academy.

“Dungeon Survival… the biological people will probably try to approach a lot of freshmen.”

Dungeon Survival.

A three-day, two-night practical evaluation held in the Catacomb—a survival exercise in the dungeon, just like the name suggests.

Freshmen must endure for three days under extreme conditions, and if they judge that they can’t continue, they can request help from the Biotech Department’s assistants who are on standby.

“We’ll need to be careful not to let Eriol Valencia be taken by the Biological Department.”

Did he think he had already done everything he could?

As Piotr spoke in a relaxed tone, Klein bit his lip in frustration.

* * *

“Professor, I’ve brought the Bugbear’s accessory.”

“Just leave it by the door.”

“Sorry, but… could I hand it to you directly?”

“What the…?”

After a rustling noise, the door to the workshop burst open.

A messy-looking middle-aged man appeared.

“Huh…?”

“Hello, Professor Hephaestus.”

“Sorry for the sudden visit.”

Seeing me and Senia standing there with a box, Hephaestus widened his eyes.

“What’s going on?”

“You put in a request for the Bugbear’s accessory, right? We’ve brought it.”

That’s right.

The request we completed today had been posted by none other than Professor Hephaist of the Crafting Department.

“But that should’ve been handed off to the Labyrinthos management office—they usually take care of delivering it…”

“We actually wanted to meet you in person, Professor.”

“Me? I’m not sure why, but… come in for now.”

Hephaestus’s workshop was cleaner than expected.

He himself looked like a mess and hadn’t even changed out of his work clothes, but the workspace itself was well-maintained.

“Put the item on the shelf to the right.”

“Yes, understood.”

“Hmm, looks like there aren’t any chairs. Could you sit on that wooden crate over there?”

After seating us on the crate, Hephaist perched himself on the edge of a nearby workbench.

“Sorry. This place isn’t really meant for visitors, so I don’t have anything to offer.”

“That’s okay, don’t worry about it.”

“So, what exactly do you need? Did you suddenly become interested in crafting magic?”

“Well… yes, actually.”

“What?”

Hephaestus widened his eyes again and looked at us.

“Professor, there’s actually something we’d like to make.”

“Something you want to make? What is it?”

“Well…”

I turned to Senia sitting next to me.

She spoke in a cautious voice.

“Professor, would it be possible to make a sword?”

“What? A sword?”

“Yes, a longsword about this long.”

Senia spread her arms to show a length of about one meter.

“Hey, you know you can’t carry a weapon like that around the Academy, right?”

“Is there any way around that?”

“What?”

“I think I saw something in Ars Magazine once. It was a retractable sword—normally as short as a dagger, but it extends into a longsword when needed.”

“…!”

A knowing look came over Hephaestus’s face.

It was only natural.

If I remembered correctly… that was one of Hephaestus’s own inventions from the past.

“If we take advantage of a loophole in the Academy rules, could we get something like that officially recognized as dungeon exploration equipment?”

“You little…”

If he had responded that it was impossible, I would’ve backed off without complaint.

But Hephaestus didn’t say that.

He just stared at me with a surprised look in his eyes.

“You sound just like Kaisel did when he was a student.”

“My uncle used to talk like this?”

“Yeah, he was a bold one even as a student.”

Hephaestus let out a long sigh.

“So, by when do you need this thing made?”

“Well… ideally…”

Grinning after hearing his positive response, I said:

“Just as long as it’s done by Dungeon Survival.”

To achieve the best possible results in the upcoming Dungeon Survival evaluation…

I needed a weapon to put in the hands of Deathvice, my Dragon Fang Soldier, and Senia Artian.

The weekend arrived.

As promised, I headed to the Labyrinthos with Senia.

“Eriol, this is my first time, so I might be a bit inexperienced. I’m counting on you.”

“I’m not exactly a veteran either, but I’ll do as much as I can.”

This was Senia’s first official entry into Labyrinthos.

On the other hand, I had already gone in once with Helios and Cain. I had learned a lot from Helios during that time, which helped me adjust quickly.

“First, let’s pick a suitable request.”

“Yes, understood.”

We checked the bulletin board at the management office near the entrance of Labyrinthos.

The board was covered with sheets listing various requests.

“Eriol, I don’t think we need to start with something too easy just because it’s my first time. Just pick one that suits your level.”

“Got it.”

The request I chose was to hunt down a bipedal monster called a “bugbear” and retrieve the ornaments they wore.

“Why would someone want a monster’s ornament?”

“Some monsters have their own distinct cultures. These are probably ritual items imbued with some kind of spell.”

“Ah, I see. So it’s for research.”

We wrote down our license numbers on the request form.

As soon as we did, the form began to flash, signaling that no one else could now take on the same request.

“Alright then, let’s go.”

“Yes!”

And with that, we entered Labyrinthos.

---

Labyrinthos is divided into surface and deep zones depending on depth, but it also has many distinct regions.

Once you pass through the entrance disguised as a limestone cave, you reach a grassland zone.

This area is inhabited by relatively weak monsters, and from there, one can move into forest, mountain, and volcanic zones.

The bugbears we were hunting today were monsters that lived in the forest zone.

“Senia, the forest zone’s just ahead. Let’s take a break.”

“Okay.”

Before entering the forest, Senia and I decided to rest.

We had already fought a few monsters while passing through the grasslands.

“Looks like the two of us can handle most monsters just fine.”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Senia would move quickly to confuse the monsters, and I would take advantage of that opening to fire off flame magic.

With just that strategy, we could safely defeat most low-tier monsters.

“But hey, Senia.”

“Yes?”

“You learned swordsmanship from the Artian family, right? Can’t you use that here?”

“Academy students aren’t allowed to carry weapons without permission.”

As she spoke, Senia glanced at her waist.

“Only ‘utility tools’ like this dagger are allowed.”

“So you can’t really use swordsmanship with a dagger?”

“It’s not like wielding a longsword. I can’t use techniques the same way. Though Cain seemed able to perform some pretty sharp dagger work with just this.”

I’d seen that before too.

As expected of someone from the Trigger family, a renowned house of assassins.

“Senia, if you and Cain fought, who do you think would win?”

“If we both had longswords, I’d have the upper hand. But with daggers, Cain’s better. Same if we’re unarmed.”

“Even unarmed?”

“Yes. I think he’s been trained to kill with his bare hands.”

“……”

That was a little chilling.

“Cain also seems better than me at using wind-elemental magic to enhance speed.”

“Really?”

“Yes. His spiritual origin is ‘Acceleration,’ so I think he’s more suited for that.”

“Hm…”

Now that I think of it, Senia’s spiritual origin was ‘Enhancement.’

But since she could only use elemental magic right now, she wasn’t really able to tap into her true affinity.

I wondered—what would happen if Senia wielded a proper weapon and used swordsmanship along with enhancement magic?

Senia has real potential.

She’s already quite capable, but she’ll grow even stronger.

Just in a different direction from me.

“Senia, there don’t seem to be any monsters around here, so I was thinking we could get started now.”

“Oh, right here?”

This was a secluded area where hardly anyone passed by.

Which meant we could proceed without worrying about prying eyes.

“……”

I took something out of my bag.

It was the drake fang Senia had given me before.

“So you can make a dragon fang soldier without a dragon fang.”

“Yeah. Dragon fangs make higher-quality soldiers, but drake fangs work too.”

Dragon fang soldiers—called “Yongabyeong” in old records—were undead summoned using dragons fangs as catalysts.

I dropped the fang to the ground.

“Summon Dead.”

Thud!

Bones erupted from the fang, quickly forming into a humanoid skeleton soldier.

The baleful energy amplified through the fang had summoned the skeleton of a nameless hero.

This probably ties into  Spatiotemporal summoning magic. Some of the principles must overlap.

The summoned skeleton knelt before us, lowering itself in a gesture of submission.

Senia let out a gasp of awe.

“Amazing! So this is a drake fang soldier!”

“Yeah. Looks like it’s the same one I summoned during the test run.”

Judging by the size and shape of the skeleton, it appeared identical to the one I had summoned back in the dorm.

Unless something unusual happened, the same soldier seemed to appear each time.

“It looks like a human skeleton, but probably a very tall warrior. The bone structure is quite sturdy too.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes. I can more or less picture what their physique must’ve been like in life.”

Now that she mentioned it, the bones were noticeably thicker than those of a typical human.

“So this soldier moves based on skeletal memory from when they were alive, right?”

“Yeah. It probably wasn’t just any old warrior—this one’s likely quite strong.”

I decided to give it a test command.

I formed a simple command spell in my head and infused it with baleful energy to control the soldier.

“Ah…!”

Whoosh!

The fang soldier swung its massive fist.

The sound of it cutting through the air rang sharply in my ears.

“That was an incredible punch. They really must’ve been a powerful warrior.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes, I’d like to see how it uses weapons too.”

Come to think of it, the dragon fang soldier wasn’t carrying any weapons.

In the novel, the dragon fang soldiers held swords or shields, but that didn’t seem to be the case in reality.

“Anyway, it feels reliable. With this around, I think I’d feel safe even in a dungeon.”

It seemed like Senia had taken a liking to the dragon fang soldier.

Her eyes sparkled as she continued to observe it closely.

“Eriol, does this dragon fang soldier have a name or anything?”

“A name?”

“It’s not some disposable skeleton we’re going to toss after a short use. Since it seems like it’ll be with us for a while… wouldn’t it be good to give it a name?”

“Is that so?”

It hadn’t occurred to me at all.

“It’s not like it’s a pet or something—do we really need to name it?”

“St-Still…”

“Ah, well, maybe we do need names to tell them apart. We might end up with more dragon fang soldier later.”

We could probably just call them dragon fang soldier No. 1, No. 2, and so on… but Senia seemed to be hoping for a proper name.

“Then why don’t you name it?”

“M-Me? But since you summoned it, I think it’d be better if you named it yourself, Eriol.”

“Hmm… I’ve never done something like this before.”

Whether animals or objects, I couldn’t recall ever naming anything.

What should I even do in a situation like this?

Let’s see…

Then, a good idea popped into my head.

A name that even Senia would approve of came to mind.

“Senia, how about Deathvice?”

“Huh, wh-what?!”

Senia’s eyes widened at my words.

“If it’s Deathvice…”

“Yeah, it’s the dragon fang soldier the protagonist commands in The Youngest Son of a Political Powerhouse.”

The dragon fang soldier appears in The Youngest Son of a Political Powerhouse series, one of my favorite novels.

It’s a mute undead, but its loyalty to the protagonist makes it a moving character.

And its name was Deathvice.

“You like that novel too, don’t you?”

“Ah, yes…”

When we first met at the dock, Senia had been sneakily peeking at the new volume I was reading.

She’s also a devoted fan of The Youngest Son of a Political Powerhouse, so she’d probably appreciate the name Deathvice.

“Don’t you think it works? Deathvice was a cool dragon fang soldier, and I think it’s the perfect name.”

“Well… it does feel a bit embarrassing, using a name from a novel.”

“Really? Then should we pick something else?”

“N-No, if you like it, Eriol… you can just call it Deathvice.”

“If you don’t like it, I’ll just call it dragon fang soldier No. 1.”

“N-No! Just call it Deathvice!”

In the end, we decided to name it Deathvice.

“Alright, Deathvice. Then let’s head out for some hunting.”

“…….”

Deathvice, the dragon fang soldier, made no reply.

But the moment I gave it a command through the spell, it immediately started walking ahead toward the forested area.

“It really is reassuring.”

“Right? Every party needs a tank warrior to stand at the front.”

“Hehe. True.”

A massive warrior who clashes head-on with enemies at the front lines—

It’s a standard member in most protagonist parties in adventure novels.

With a warrior tanking in front, the mage in the rear can operate much more freely.

“By now, we should be seeing bugbears showing up…”

“Ah, Eriol. Over there.”

When I followed Senia’s pointing finger, I saw monsters creeping through the forest.

Large, bear-like hairy beasts… They were bugbears.

“Looks like there are four—no, five of them.”

“Bugbears don’t usually form large packs of ten or more. These are probably all the ones in the area.”

If they had been goblins or kobolds, I’d have to worry about more of them popping up from behind, but with bugbears, we just had to focus on the ones ahead.

“Alright then, let’s have the dragon fang soldier—no, Deathvice—take the lead and fight.”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

“While Deathvice holds off the bugbears, we can blast them with attack spells.”

As Deathvice stepped forward, the bugbears began to show signs of wariness.

Bugbears are carnivorous monsters that even eat people, but they probably hadn’t ever seen a walking human skeleton before.

“Grarrr…”

“Grahhh…!”

Still, it looked like they had decided to smash the skeleton in front of them.

With growls, they began to charge at Deathvice.

“Now’s our chance!”

“Right!”

Senia and I prepared to cast our offensive spells.

We’d need to aim carefully using targeted spells so we wouldn’t accidentally hit Deathvice.

“Huh?”

“Ah?!”

But then, something unexpected happened.

“Grrk?!”

Crack!

Deathvice’s swinging fist… smashed the head of the leading bugbear into pieces.

And that wasn’t all. It reached for the next closest bugbear and snapped its neck, then tore an arm off the next one in a single motion.

“Uh…”

“This is…”

We forgot all about casting magic and just stood there, staring blankly.

Before we knew it, Deathvice had wiped out all five bugbears in the blink of an eye.

“Why is it so strong?”

The Dragon Fang Soldier I had summoned… turned out to be far stronger than I had expected.

---

TL : Lol, someone said to forget the context (except they are man and woman in a cave) and only read the first dialogue of the chapter.

Modern magic is classified into six categories.

Elemental Magic.
Biological Magic.
Electromagnetic Magic.
Radiant Magic.
Necromancy Magic.
Spatiotemporal Magic.

In the past, magic was divided in a far more unclear way, but it was the discovery of the Six Forbidden Tomes that led to its current systematic classification.

Each of the six ancient grimoires found in the Labyrinthos elaborated on one domain of magic—elemental, biological, electromagnetic, radiant, necromantic, and spatiotemporal—at an extremely advanced level.

The former Ars Magna Magic Research Institute established the six classes of Magic based on research into these forbidden tomes, and over time, the system spread and became the standard of modern magic.

However, the Six Forbidden Tomes are currently not open to the public.

Because they contain highly dangerous knowledge, there was a collective decision among mages to seal them all, to prevent potential misuse.

At present, the Six Forbidden Tomes are sealed in the Academy’s Deep Library. Even Academy professors require special permission to access them.

Of course, that doesn’t mean every part of the Six Forbidden Tomes is considered taboo.

It’s a known fact that the tomes contributed significantly to the advancement of modern magic, and portions of their contents are shared among mages.

The truly dangerous sections are supposedly only known to those at the department head level… but more moderate parts are said to be partially understood by general professors at the Academy.

‘Even so, to hand part of a Forbidden Tome to a student…’

Back in my dorm, I examined the notebook with trembling hands. Even without any prior knowledge, I could tell immediately.

This was, without a doubt, a compiled excerpt from the Necromancer’s Codex, one of the Six Forbidden Tomes.

‘Professor Piotr… what is he thinking?’

Kaisel had also promised to let me view a Forbidden Tome if I ranked first in the Year One comprehensive exam.

But that was merely a viewing—whatever the format, it would mean getting to read it once under supervision. It didn’t mean I could take it to my room, put it on my desk, and study it at my leisure.

In that sense, Piotr’s actions were incredibly unorthodox—even if this was just an excerpt.

‘Does he really want to make me his successor?’

If Piotr had already decided to name me his successor, this kind of gift would make sense.

If I was destined to become a professor in the Department of Necromancy, then I would eventually have access to the Necromancer’s Codex anyway.

Seen in that light, this was just a head start.

‘Still… giving me this doesn’t guarantee I’ll join the Necromancy Department.’

I’d told him directly on the bone dragon—I couldn’t promise to enter the department and politely declined. But Piotr had said that was fine.

That once I read it, I’d naturally want to join the department to see the rest of it.

‘Not that I completely disagree with that logic…’

Imagine a truly captivating novel. If someone let you read the first few chapters for free and then said the rest was behind a paywall, what would you do?

If the book was genuinely good, any reader would be tempted to pay—whatever it took—to read the rest.

‘Is this that interesting?’

Piotr handed over this notebook with full confidence. That once I read it, I’d be so curious I’d voluntarily join the department.

Are the Forbidden Tomes really that compelling?

‘What should I do with this…?’

I hesitated.

What if I just shoved it into a drawer and never read it?

That would nullify Piotr’s plan.

I’d be blocking the possibility of getting lured into the Necromancy Department by curiosity.

‘And I also have to consider the risks of reading a Forbidden Tome in the first place.’

Even if it’s only an excerpt, it’s still classified as forbidden.

Is it really okay for a first-year student like me to be reading something like this?

Who knows how it might affect me later?

“……”

I turned to look at the graffiti still scribbled on the dorm wall. It was the message left behind by a senior who’d “disappeared” after learning too much.

As I stared at it, I questioned whether reading this tome was the right thing to do.

But…

‘Oh well. I don’t have a choice.’

No matter how much I thought about it, I could only reach one conclusion.

I’m a reader.

If an interesting-looking book is right in front of me, I have to read it.

Even if it’s just a partial excerpt, this is one of the rarest of rare texts—something I’ve never come across before.

It’s like having the most mouth-watering fine dish in the world right under your nose…

How could I resist?

‘Alright, let’s do this.’

I opened the notebook.

The handwriting inside was, to put it kindly, pretty terrible. But more than the handwritting, the content itself was extremely difficult.

‘Still, thank goodness it’s written in standard academic language. The original was probably in some ancient tongue.’

Even with Piotr’s translation, understanding it wasn’t easy.

Compared to the textbooks we got in Elemental Studies, this was on a whole different level.

‘The preface… feels more like a religious text than anything else.’

It didn’t read like a magic book at all.

It felt like a scripture from some cult.

Then again, necromantic magic did originate from ancient, sinister religious sects, so I guess it made sense.

‘No, wait.’

I went back and reread the preface.

And I reached a conclusion.

‘This is a scripture, isn’t it?’

Now that I thought about it, the title was The Necromancer’s Codex. This had to be the holy text of some unknown, evil religion.

‘Should I even be reading something like this…?’

According to the preface, the religion seemed to aim at destroying the “laws of life” through the power of “sinister wave.”

They wanted to fill the world with undead and rule it as high-level undead beings themselves—similar to vampires.

‘So this is why it’s forbidden.’

If something like this circulated publicly, there would be no shortage of people tempted to do terrible things.

Keeping it sealed away is definitely the right call.

‘I really don’t know if I should keep reading this…’

Despite my worries, I kept turning the pages.

I understood that this was a dangerous book, but I simply couldn’t resist my intellectual curiosity.

However… before long, I was overcome with frustration.

‘Professor, how can you just skip over this part!’

Right at the section where the book was explaining the absolute being revered by that religious sect, the text abruptly cut off.

That entire part had been completely left, and it jumped straight into the next topic.

‘I was really getting into it!’

What on earth was this unknown, malevolent sect worshipping?

I was dying to know, but that crucial bit had been left out. I was thoroughly displeased.

‘I guess it’s not exactly necessary for learning necromancy… but still.’

I tried to convince myself to accept it.

It just so happened that the following section seemed to delve into specifics about the undead.

‘Good, looks like it’s covering something that aligns with Animate Dead.’

Maybe because it was an ancient grimoire, it didn’t match modern magic completely.

But the core concepts seemed to be the same.

‘The later sections even seem to discuss not just Summon Dead, but also Create Wraith, which involves manifesting spiritual energy into incorporeal undead…’

Just studying this might be enough to make someone a necromancer well beyond student level.

With that thought, I kept turning the pages.

‘Right, as long as the law of life is in effect, the undead cannot exist. You have to disrupt that law with sinister energy for undead to truly manifest.’

Before I knew it, I was deeply absorbed in the Doctrine of Necromancy transcribed in the notebook.

Far deeper than when I’d read the elemental magic textbook… I was diving straight into the depths of magical knowledge.

‘The issue with long-term zombie use is that decomposition progresses and the body deteriorates. Using a mummified corpse with preservatives to compensate… That’s an interesting idea.’

The material was far from easy, and the more I understood, the more thrilling it felt. Like I was addicted to the exhilaration of comprehension, I kept reading.

‘Summon Dead doesn’t create something from nothing. It’s merely…’

I want to keep reading.

I want to keep learning.

I want to keep unraveling these secrets.

Before I knew it, I was obsessively reading the Doctrine of Necromancy.

Unaware of how deep the night had grown, lost in perfect immersion.

---

How much time had passed?

In the deathly quiet room, I sat slumped in my chair.

My mind was blank—not from pulling an all-nighter, though.

‘Professor Piotr saved me by cutting out some of the content.’

The excerpts didn’t just omit dangerous sections like “necromancy for large-scale warfare.”

Aside from the prologue, it seemed the professor had removed most of the overtly religious parts too.

If those sections had remained… I might have become a full-fledged follower of that cult.

‘So this is the power of a forbidden tome.’

Even though the religious content was mostly stripped out, as I read, I could feel myself being drawn toward the ideology of that nameless cult.

Maybe the sentences themselves were a kind of brainwashing spell.

‘Still… I just barely managed to endure it.’

Did Piotr believe I could withstand it?

Or… was he hoping I’d be captivated by the book’s teachings and choose to pursue necromancy?

‘Either way, it doesn’t matter.’

I stood up from my chair.

Then I pulled out a drake fang I had hidden in a box in the corner of the room… a low-grade dragon fang.

“……”

I stood in the center of the room and took a deep breath.

The ritual was already unfolding in my mind.

‘The fang itself isn’t inherently special. It just happens to resonate well with baleful energy, so it’s used as a trigger.’

Baleful energy.

A dark, sinister force that transcends the laws of life.

By resonating it with the fang to its fullest extent… I can pull here the skeleton of a “Great Hero” who once existed somewhere, sometime.

An ultimate necromantic spell, capable of transcending even the fundamental limitation of requiring a corpse.

“Summon Dead.”

I dropped the fang from my hand.

Just before it hit the floor, bones sprouted around it.

Though they seemed to appear haphazardly at first, the bones quickly began to assemble into a proper skeleton.

‘No need to implant skeletal memory. This drake fang soldier… was formed from the bones of a Great Hero far beyond any ordinary skeleton.’

Thud!

A towering humanoid skeleton appeared before me.

Nothing like the skeletons you’d see in a dungeon… this was the skeleton of a nameless hero.

“……”

The skeletal soldier said nothing.

It simply knelt before me with a clattering sound, as if pledging eternal loyalty to the necromancer who had summoned it.

This was the birth of my first servant—my drake fang soldier.

 

“E-Eriol, are you putting it together correctly?”

Senia asked as she looked at the half-completed skeleton of the small kobold.

“It does look like a kobold so far…”

“It’s a small kobold.”

A small kobold is a subspecies of kobold.

Kobolds are bipedal monsters that look like a mix between a dog and a lizard, and they’re about the size of a child. Among them, small kobolds are the ones with even smaller builds.

“This should be the correct way to assemble it.”

“Did you study necromancy in advance?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then how can you just… put it together so easily…?”

As Senia stared at me in confusion, I replied in a calm voice:

“I saw it in a book.”

That’s right.

I didn’t have to check each inscription or worry about the connection order. As long as I recalled the skeletal diagrams from Anatomy of Major Monsters, I could assemble them right away.

‘I read it over and over when I was a kid.’

The fully illustrated anatomy book was more than enough to capture a child’s imagination.

It had helped me understand monster biology, so I used to read it regularly even back then.

“You can really do all that just from reading a book?”

“Apparently so.”

“Amazing…”

Senia swallowed hard and murmured in awe.

“Senia, can you take out the rest of the bones? I think we can finish this quickly.”

“Ah, sure. But I thought the point of this exercise was to assemble while interpreting the inscriptions?”

“I think it’ll be enough to examine the finished product afterward.”

Ordinary students probably needed to analyse each bone carefully and understand it piece by piece.

But Senia was also an excellent student. She would likely be able to understand things well enough just by looking at the completed skeleton.

“Let’s hurry up and build it.”

“Got it!”

We resumed assembling the skeleton.

As I pieced together the bones Senia handed me, the skeleton neared completion in no time.

“Eriol, the vertebrae all look the same—are you sure the order’s right?”

“There’s a pattern if you look closely. For example, the thoracic vertebrae in the chest area have articulation points where the ribs connect.”

“Oh, then…”

While we discussed that, we eventually ran out of bones.

The small kobold skeleton was complete.

“Whoa, what the heck?!”

Cain, who had been struggling with Charis at another table, peeked over in amazement.

“You guys finished already? That’s insane!”

“Eriol did almost all of it. He’s incredible.”

After hearing Cain and Senia’s conversation, the other students turned to look at us too.

“What? They’re already done?”

“No way. That’s impossible.”

“They probably just threw something together randomly.”

Some students even began badmouthing us.

Most of them were part of Monarch’s faction.

“Let’s see here…”

While I was thinking about what to do next, a gloomy voice rang out from the front of the classroom.

“Those who are finished, bring your completed skeletons to the front.”

Professor Piotr called for us.

So Senia and I carefully carried the assembled skeleton to the front.

“You finished quickly.”

Piotr examined the small kobold skeleton we had assembled and stroked his chin.

“You positioned the first cervical vertebra—the atlas—so that it supports the skull properly. That’s a detail many overlook. Well done.”

“Thank you.”

“The skull stores a large amount of spiritual energy. If it’s lost, the skeleton’s operating time shortens. That’s why it’s important to ensure the skull is firmly attached to the cervical vertebrae.”

“Ah…”

That was something I had always been curious about.

Skeletons in stories still move just fine even without their heads, and their combat ability doesn’t seem affected.

So I used to quietly wonder, “Do skeletons even need a skull?” After all, it’s not a limb that’s used much in combat.

But if spiritual energy is mostly stored in the skull, then losing it shortens operating time…

‘This is exactly why lectures matter.’

Piotr continued checking other parts of the skeleton as he explained, and I listened closely to every word.

“Now, let’s try activating the skeleton. There’s a switch point on the third cervical vertebra. Press it with your finger.”

“Understood.”

I pressed it with my finger as instructed—and felt a sinister wave of energy.

It was the same ominous wave I had sensed from the skeletons and Sabat during the dungeon tournament.

‘So this is the sinister wave…’

Now, I could clearly recognize it.

This wave contained a vast amount of information. If I were to write it all down, one sheet of paper wouldn’t be enough.

It amazed me that I could actually “read” it all.

‘Is this the power of my reading aptitude?’

It wasn’t just a matter of deciphering magical inscriptions.

It was the ability to read and comprehend all kinds of information related to magic… That might be the true nature of my spiritual root—reading.

‘I wish I could ask the professors, but I need to keep it hidden.’

I thought of the scribbles left by an upperclassman in Room 801.

That convinced me it was better to hide my ability as much as possible.

There was no need to take unnecessary risks.

Revealing more than what’s already known would be rash.

“Oh, it’s moving!”

Clatter, clatter.

The small kobold skeleton began marching in place and lifted its forelegs.

“A skeleton basically moves similarly to how it did during its life time. That’s because its memories remain stored in the bones.”

“The bones… have memory?!”

“Skeletal memory is a bit different from the memories stored in the brain. It’s more like the records of how the body moved during life, left behind with spiritual energy in the bones. Thanks to that, it can move similarly to how it did while alive, even without consciousness.”

The small kobold skeleton moved like it was trying to attack an enemy.

It didn’t actually attack us—probably because of a pre-set command—but its movements were nearly identical to those of kobold-type monsters I knew.

“That’s why… if you dig up the grave of a former swordmaster and use Animate Dead, you can create a skeleton with incredible sword skills.”

“I suppose that makes sense…”

“Though that’s forbidden now.”

As Piotr and Senia continued their conversation, I fell into thought.

“Professor.”

“What is it?”

“There’s also Summon Dead, aside from Animate Dead, right?”

“Summon Dead…”

While Animate Dead creates undead from corpses, Summon Dead is a magic that summons undead without needing a corpse.

I didn’t fully understand the mechanism, but summoning Dragon Fang Soldiers using dragon fangs was based on this Summon Dead magic.

“The undead summoned by Summon Dead wouldn’t have skeletal memory, would they?”

When creating a Dragon Fang Soldier, a dragon’s fang is used.

But dragon fangs probably only retain memories of chewing and eating prey.

Then how can a Dragon Fang Soldier fight against enemies?

“Does a mage have to add an additional spell for that?”

For example… what if someone implanted skeletal memory into the fang?

Then every time a Dragon Fang Soldier is summoned using that fang, it would retain the implanted skeletal memory.

But that didn’t seem like something easily done.

‘That’s not something I could do with my reading aptitude.’

Animate Dead, which turns a corpse into an undead, and Control Dead, which seizes control over an undead—those I had seen used by Piotr and Sabat in the dungeon before, and I could more or less replicate them.

But implanting skeletal memory into a dragon’s fang… that was a completely different matter.

“Hmm, is that what you think?”

Piotr’s response was unexpected.

“It seems you’re still unfamiliar with necromancy, since you haven’t properly studied it yet.”

“Pardon?”

“There’s no need for any additional spell like implanting skeletal memory into an undead created with Summon Dead.”

Piotr had seen right through what I was imagining.

“You’ll understand as you study necromancy more deeply, Eriol Valencia.”

“Professor…”

While we were having that conversation, other students who had completed assembling their small kobold skeletons began stepping forward.

Seeing the students waiting with their completed skeletons, Piotr cut the discussion short.

“This is going on too long. From now on, study the skeletons yourselves.”

“Understood.”

While Piotr checked the others’ work, I examined the skeleton with Senia.

But my mind was elsewhere.

‘If skeletal memory isn’t needed, yet the undead still move on their own… then how exactly does Summon Dead function?’

I wanted to ask Piotr more questions… but unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance before the end of the class.

---

The loud and bustling introductory necromancy lecture finally came to an end.

It was fourth period, so that was the last class for the day.

Then the teaching assistant approached me.

“Eriol Valencia, the professor wants to see you.”

“…?”

Confused, I stepped outside, where Piotr was waiting.

“Professor, what’s this about…”

“Just get in.”

“Excuse me?”

I thought he had prepared a magical carriage like Kaisel, but that wasn’t it.

Piotr raised his hand—and with a sudden flash of light—

“…!”

When I came to, I was in the sky.

More precisely… sitting on the bones of a flying dragon.

‘This is a dragon skeleton—no, a bone dragon…!’

I couldn’t help being shocked.

The situation itself was incredible, but even more astonishing was how Piotr summoned a bone dragon in the blink of an eye to bring me here.

‘As expected from the academy’s most powerful necromancer…!’

He may not be counted among the ten greatest mages of the continent like Kaisel, but this Professor Piotr was also a grand mage of incomprehensible caliber.

Feeling the weight of that realization, I swallowed hard.

“Up here, we can speak without worrying about eavesdropping.”

“I’m not worried about eavesdropping… but I am worried about falling to my death.”

From this height, I could see not only the academy but the entire island in one sweeping view.

We were incredibly high up.

“Eriol Valencia.”

“Yes, Professor.”

“Normally, I don’t speak much outside of necromancy. So I’ll be brief and to the point.”

What could this be about?

I focused on Piotr’s words.

“During the dungeon raid competition last weekend, I was greatly indebted to you.”

“Ah…”

“I completely failed to notice the vampire’s plot. As the head of the necromancy department and a member of the competition’s organizing committee, that’s deeply shameful.”

His voice was sincere.

“If you hadn’t quickly taken down Sabat, there would’ve been many casualties. The fact that we were able to minimize the damage is entirely thanks to you.”

As he said that, Piotr looked me in the eye.

His eyes weren’t exactly clear, but they were filled with genuine emotion.

“The academy will likely give you a formal commendation, but I want to offer you a personal reward as well.”

“Professor…”

“Take this.”

Piotr pulled a notebook from inside his coat.

It was old and worn.

“A notebook I compiled myself.”

“A… notebook?”

“Don’t let this leave your possession. It could cause problems.”

What kind of notebook was it?

As I opened it without thinking, I gasped.

---

“It’s a summary of excerpts from The Necromancer’s Codex, one of the Six Forbidden Tomes.”

---

The Six Forbidden Tomes.

The greatest grimoires in the world, corresponding to the six elemental schools: elemental, biological, electrical, radiant, necromantic, and spatiotemporal.

They’re sealed away in the academy’s deep archives, and only professors are even allowed to access them.

One of them is The Necromancer’s Codex.

“Professor, giving me this…”

“Don’t worry. I only wrote harmless sections. Nothing dangerous.”

At some point, I’d completely forgotten that I was still up in the sky.

From the very first page, the depth of the content overwhelmed me.

“It’s definitely more advanced than any necromantic textbook a student could possibly get their hands on. If you master what’s in there, no other student will be able to match you in necromantic magic until graduation.”

“Professor…”

“But I can say with confidence—once you finish that notebook, you’ll want to read the rest of the forbidden tome.”

“…!”

“I’ll tell you how you can do that.”

As I stared, holding my breath, Piotr looked into my face and said:

“Eriol Valencia, join the necromancy department in your second year.”

In a voice as grim as always—but filled with powerful ambition—

“You have the potential to become my successor.”

The northern section of the Academy campus.

In the area primarily used by professors and researchers, a few faculty members were having a lunch gathering.

“I heard that Eriol Valencia made a huge contribution during last weekend’s dungeon conquest tournament.”

“Looks like Head of Necromancy, Professor Piotr, owes him a great deal.”

“Thanks to that, the vampire’s scheme was stopped in advance. We should be grateful that Professor Kaisel acted quickly.”

The professors main topic of conversation was the dungeon conquest tournament held the previous weekend.

A vampire had tried to seize control of the undead intended for the tournament and unleash chaos, but thanks to Eriol Valencia’s efforts, the damage had been minimized.

“Come to think of it, I heard Eriol Valencia also ranked first in the midterms.”

“Wasn’t he also first in the entrance exam?”

“First in the entrance exam, first in the rookie tournament, first in the dungeon conquest tournament, and first in the midterms… He’s been sweeping first place in everything.”

“Incredible. Truly impressive!”

The eyes of the professors seated at the table sharpened slightly.

They were trying to gauge just how interested the others were in Eriol Valencia.

“Eriol Valencia… I’m already curious what major he’ll choose in his second year.”

“Well, he’ll decide during the second semester. The rotation practicum hasn’t even started yet.”   *Rotation practicum is a training program where students rotate through different departments to gain practical experience.

“Right. Let’s just wait and see.”

Most of the professors attending today’s meeting had seen Eriol in action during the freshman showcase.

However, none had made any direct moves yet. Professors consider it undignified to start recruiting freshmen this early.

The real recruitment war begins in the second semester. That’s when students go through a rotation of hands-on classes in each department, and most of them choose their majors during this period.

“They say he has exceptional talent in elemental magic. Perhaps he’ll come to our Elemental Department?”

“That’s a hasty assumption. He hasn’t properly studied the other types of magic yet.”

“He should at least experience all six core departments before deciding.”

The six core departments:

• Elemental Department
• Biological Department
• Electromagic Department
• Radiant Department
• Necromancy Department
• Spatiotemporal Department

These correspond to the six major schools of magic: elemental, biological, electromagic, radiant, necromantic, and spatiotemporal magic.

“There’s also a chance he’ll go into the Producing Division.”

“Rumor has it that Professor Hephaestus contacted him personally.”

The Producing Division consists of:

• Artificing Department – which creates various magical tools.
• Pharmacology Department – which develops alchemical medicines through magical processing.

“If you think of it that way, the Research Division might actually be the most likely.”

“His advisor is Professor Klein of the Lore Department, and Professor Kaisel from the Principles Department is his uncle.”

The Research Division consists of:

• Transcendental Department – which studies ancient grimoires, artifacts, and magical history.
• Principles Department – which seeks to uncover the unknown laws of the world and create new magical systems.

“The core six, the two producing, and the two research departments… That makes ten departments total. Where will he end up?”

“We’ll just have to see which field suits Eriol Valencia best.”

“Right. Ultimately, his own wishes matter most.”

“Forcing someone into a department is never a good idea.”

The professors continued to keep each other in check.

The message was clear: don’t try to jump the line before the second semester.

That’s when the real recruiting begins—after the rotation practicum starts.

“Now that I think about it, Professor Piotr isn’t here today.”

“Professor Piotr? He said he was busy preparing because first-year lectures start today.”

“Wait, the department head himself is teaching a first-year class? Doesn’t he usually leave that to the regular professors?”

“He insisted on personally handling the top-tier class.”

“Hold on… If that’s the case…”

The professors’ expressions turned serious.

Except for special cases like Professor Horizon of the Elemental Department, it was rare for department heads to personally teach freshmen.

Especially someone like Piotr, who normally disliked giving lectures—his involvement was unprecedented.

“Damn it, he’s not even trying to hide it!”

“Does he want Eriol Valencia that badly?!”

“Professor Piotr, this is cutting in line!”

Piotr Grozny, the head of the Necromancy Department.

He had officially begun his move to recruit Eriol.

---

“All living things come to an end upon death.”

Top-rank lecture room, First Student Building.

There, a man with a gloomy appearance was giving a lecture titled “Foundations of Necromancy” to the freshmen.

“All functions cease, and silence follows. This is what we call the ‘First Law of Life.’”

Professor Piotr.

He was the head of the Necromancy Department and a skilled necromancer. While not among the continent’s top ten mages, he was one of the academy’s foremost.

Because of that, all the students were paying close attention to the lecture.

“However, there are beings that defy this First Law of Life. We call them ‘undead.’”

Undead.

Beings who transcend death.

The Necromancy Department studied these undead.

“Since ancient times, this world has seen the existence of undead who violate the First Law. There have been higher undead like vampires, possessing abilities superior to humans, and lower undead like zombies and skeletons, which arise naturally from corpses. Necromantic magic is the magical system built to understand and reproduce the ‘sinister wave’ that sustains these undead through incantational language.”

That “sinister wave” was likely the aura I had felt from the skeletons and from Sabat.

Because I could sense that, I was able to identify Sabbat as an undead.

“Some of you might wonder—why use necromantic magic to animate corpses at all? In this day and age, why do such gruesome things? Why learn necromantic magic at all?”

As he said this, Piotr scanned the classroom.

“Anyone care to answer?”

“I’d like to try.”

Monarch Orson raised his hand.

“Because a corpse is an extremely efficient material. Especially when it comes to utilizing spiritual energy.”

“Exactly. And your name?”

“Monarch Orson.”

“I’ll remember it.”

At Piotr’s response, Monarch smiled in satisfaction.

“There’s no situation where undead are absolutely necessary. You could just use golems instead. But golems require fully prepared materials. That’s not the case with undead.”

“……”

“Let’s say you throw a skilled golem-crafting mage into a dungeon. That mage wouldn’t be able to do anything—no materials, no facilities.”

It was the kind of remark that would provoke objections from the artificer professors.

After all, Professor Hephaestus had demonstrated his ability to build a golem on the spot using only chalkboard materials.

But such instantaneous craftsmanship was rare. For ordinary mages, Piotr’s words were likely accurate.

“However, a mage proficient in necromantic magic… can simply turn the nearest monster corpse into an undead and use it.”

As he spoke, Piotr drew a skull on the board.

“Moreover, as I mentioned, corpses retain spiritual energy. Even if the flesh has rotted away and only bones remain, a significant amount of spiritual energy still lingers. Utilizing that means you don’t need a separate energy source like a golem would require. It’s incredibly efficient.”

All living creatures possess spiritual energy, which is mostly concentrated in the brain, heart, and bones.

However, the spiritual energy in the brain and heart dissipates rapidly upon death. In contrast, the spiritual energy contained in bones remains for quite a long time, even after death.

That is why necromancy primarily utilizes the spiritual energy left in bones.

“The necromantic spell I’ll be teaching you today is one that uses this spiritual energy to animate the dead. It’s called Animate Dead.”

Professor Piotr drew a new picture on the chalkboard next to the skull he’d previously sketched.

This time, it wasn’t a skeleton—it was a corpse with flesh still attached.

“But not all Animate Dead spells are the same. There’s a big difference between a corpse that’s just bones and one that still has flesh on it.”

A bony corpse and one with flesh still attached.

He was clearly referring to skeletons and zombies.

“What kind of difference is there? Anyone want to answer?”

“I’ll answer!”

“You already answered earlier, so let’s give someone else a chance.”

Monach lowered his hand with a embarrassed expression.

“…”

Piotr’s gaze swept across the classroom.

And then… his eyes met mine.

“Come to think of it, we had a student who ranked first in the midterms, didn’t we?”

“…”

“Eriol Valencia, go ahead and answer.”

“Understood.”

I’d been called on, so I had no choice but to respond.

“Skeletons and zombies show a distinct difference in movement.”

“How so?”

“Skeletons move in a way that resembles living creatures. They can even wield weapons. But zombies can’t perform such complex actions.”

As often depicted in novels, zombies simply lurch forward with their arms outstretched, staggering toward their enemies.

Skeletons, on the other hand, move more naturally. Although their motions may be a bit jerky at times, they’re capable of movements close to those of the living.

“You said earlier that necromancers use the spiritual energy in bones to animate undead.”

“That’s right.”

“Skeletons only require the bones to be moved using that energy. But zombies still have skin, muscles, and internal organs attached… making them much harder to control.”

“An accurate explanation.”

A chorus of admiration broke out across the classroom.

Though I’d never had the chance to study necromancy before, I had read a few books about undead monsters, which helped me answer.

“Skeletons are easier to control, zombies are harder. So what’s the advantage of zombies?”

“Zombies are physically much stronger. Since they still have muscles attached, they can use that strength.”

“Correct. Given spells of similar quality, zombies will always be stronger than skeletons.”

“That’s why… skeletons are useful as general foot soldiers in combat. Meanwhile, zombies, with their superior strength, are better suited for the ‘corpse wave’ tactic—charging straight through enemy lines.”

“You know about the corpse wave tactic? Impressive.”

“I read about it in a book.”

The corpse wave tactic involves sending a large number of zombies charging forward to overwhelm the enemy. It’s called that because the zombies sweep across the battlefield like a wave, engulfing everything in their path.

“Either way, good answer. Excellent work.”

Piotr praised me.

“As Eriol Valencia just explained, skeletons and zombies each have their own distinct traits. That’s why understanding those characteristics is important when using Animate Dead.”

“…”

“But there’s one thing Eriol didn’t mention. While carrying around corpses to make zombies is difficult, bones for skeletons are relatively easy to transport.”

As he spoke, Piotr raised his hand, and the assistants waiting nearby began opening a large box.

“Gasp!”

“Eek!”

Screams erupted throughout the classroom.

Inside the box were neatly stacked piles of bones.

“These aren’t human bones. No need to overreact.”

Piotr calmed the students in a gloomy voice.

“They’re from some kind of monster. And since spell inscriptions have already been engraved on them, if you assemble them correctly, they’ll function as a skeleton.”

“…”

“From this point on, you’ll form pairs and work together to assemble the skeleton using these monster bones. This is an essential step in understanding the Animate Dead spell. After all, you can’t assume the bones you find in the field will be laid out nicely in anatomical order.”

It seemed like a hands-on exercise to understand skeletal structure while gaining foundational knowledge for casting Animate Dead.

“For the record, you’ll have to figure out how to assemble the bones yourselves.”

“…!”

“Don’t worry. As you interpret the spell inscriptions etched into the bones and go through some trial and error, you’ll gradually figure it out.”

Piotr said this in his usual gloomy tone, standing before the nervous students.

“Use this opportunity to become familiar with bones.”

---

Suddenly, the bone-assembly practical began.

The classroom became noisy as students tried to form pairs.

“Eriol, shall we pair up?”

“Sounds good.”

I decided to team up with Senia.

We’d talked last night about making a Fang Soldier.

To make a Fang Soldier, I first need to master the basics of necromancy.

In order to learn Summon Dead, which is necessary for creating the Fang Soldier, I had to first understand Animate Dead.

So this practical was perfect practice.

“Hey! Don’t just throw the bones around! You have to sort them carefully first!”

“Why are you sticking a leg bone in the middle of the spine? Have you never eaten a chicken drumstick?”

“Damn it, suddenly asking us to assemble a monster skeleton—this is way too hard!”

The classroom remained in chaos.

Everyone seemed overwhelmed by the difficult hands-on task during their first necromancy class.

“This won’t be easy.”

Senia said as she carefully pulled bones out of the box one by one.

“Judging by the size of the bones, it doesn’t seem like a large monster.”

“Agreed.”

“Do you think it’s bipedal or quadrupedal? That’s the first thing we should—huh?”

Senia, busily pulling out bones, suddenly widened her eyes.

“E-Eriol. What are you doing? Didn’t you hear what the professor just said?”

“I heard him.”

“You’re supposed to figure it out while deciphering the inscriptions, but… wait…”

She looked at my face, then back down at the desk.

“How… how did you already get this much done?”

On the desk…

The skeleton of a Small Kobold, half-finished, was already taking shape using the bones Senia had handed me.

“…So, what did you want to talk about?”

After sending the others off, I headed to the park I often visited with Charlotte.

Come to think of it, this was the first time I’d talked with her here without any food involved.

“Well…”

Charlotte hesitated for a moment before finally speaking.

“U-um, first off… are you okay? You passed out yesterday.”

“As you can see, I’m fine. No problems.”

“That’s… good to hear.”

Before we knew it, the sky had begun to darken.

But Charlotte still hadn’t gotten to the point.

‘I can more or less guess what she wants to say…’

Knowing her personality, it wasn’t hard to figure out what this was about.

We hadn’t had a chance to talk after the tournament ended yesterday, so she probably felt the need to speak with me quickly.

“Eriol Valencia.”

Charlotte finally broke the silence.

“They say Joshua-sunbae was really a vampire, right?”

“So you heard.”

“Yeah, I only found out today.”

Charlotte let out a sigh.

“Eriol Valencia, I owe you an apology.”

“Why would you need to apologize?”

“Because I’m the one who introduced you to Joshua-sunbae.”

“…”

“If things had gone wrong, you could’ve ended up like Sabbat, a puppet to a vampire.”

She bowed her head as she spoke.

“I’m sorry. I truly mean it.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.”

“No, if I hadn’t introduced you to him, you wouldn’t have been caught up in something so dangerous.”

“If you’re going to argue it that way, then the problem started when I asked you for past test questions.”

“Th-that’s not it. I mean…”

“There’s no end if we start pointing fingers like that.”

I cut her off mid-sentence.

“Joshua’s the only one at fault here. He tried to use us. That’s all there is to it.”

“…”

“Understand?”

Charlotte looked conflicted for a moment.

But eventually, she gave a small nod.

“Okay. If you say so… then I’ll think that way too.”

“Good.”

I had expected she’d bring this up.

But Charlotte had no reason to carry a burden over this.

Joshua was the cause of everything—and he was already gone.

“And let’s not say stuff like ‘thank you’ either. We helped each other out this time, right? That’s enough.”

“Right… okay. I’ll do as you say.”

Charlotte was the kind of person who couldn’t leave a debt unpaid.

Hearing her say “thank you” over and over would’ve been exhausting, so this was the best way to wrap things up.

“But, Eriol.”

“What?”

“This is just a personal matter, so I hope you’ll allow me this one thing.”

“What is it…”

“Thanks to the tournament win, and doing well on the midterms because of those test questions… it looks like I won’t have to worry about being dragged home by my parents anytime soon.”

Charlotte had once said she’d be forced to leave the Academy if her grades didn’t improve.

She’d have to go back home… and enter into a political marriage.

“If you hadn’t reached out to me… I wouldn’t have gotten this outcome.”

“…”

“So at least for that… I hope you’ll let me say thank you.”

Her sincere voice left me at a loss for words.

“Thank you, Eriol Valencia. If you don’t mind… I’d like to stay on good terms with you.”

Under the blue moonlight, Charlotte bowed her head toward me—

Wearing a shy smile I didn’t often see.

---

After finishing up a few things, I was resting in my dorm room.

That was when a cautious voice came from outside.

“Eriol, do you have a moment?”

“…?”

I opened the door to find Senia, holding a small bag close to her chest.

“What’s up?”

“Um… would it be alright if we talked for a bit?”

“Oh, right.”

On the way back from dinner earlier, Senia had seemed like she wanted to say something.

“It’s fine. Come in.”

“Thank you.”

Senia stepped into the room carefully.

“I-I’m a little nervous.”

“Why?”

“Last time, other people were around, but now I’m alone in a boy’s room…”

“Ah. Should we talk outside then?”

“N-no! That’s not what I meant!”

“Then?”

“It’s just… ah, forget it. Never mind.”

Blushing, Senia cleared her throat.

“So, what did you want to talk about? Is it about the dungeon?”

“That too, but…”

“…?”

First Charlotte, now Senia—why did everyone beat around the bush today?

“Ah, that reminds me—what did you and Charlotte talk about earlier?”

“Charlotte?”

“The mood seemed kind of serious…”

Senia asked carefully.

“Cain and Milia said… they thought Charlotte might be, um, confessing to you…”

“…What?”

That was absurd.

“She was just thanking me for helping her out. We didn’t get a chance to talk after the tournament yesterday.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. She said with the good grades and the tournament win, she probably won’t get dragged home for a while.”

“I see… that’s a relief.”

“A relief?”

“I actually overheard once. That she’d be in trouble if her grades didn’t improve.”

“You heard about the arranged marriage too?”

“Ah, so you heard about that as well.”

Senia gave an awkward smile.

“I’m kind of in the same boat. I guess… we’re in similar situations.”

“Yeah… I guess you’re right.”

Senia had her own circumstances.

So it wasn’t surprising that she could empathize with Charlotte a bit.

“But, you know…”

“What?”

“Are you really sure… that’s all it was between you and her?”

“What are you trying to say…”

“S-sorry!”

Senia quickly lowered her head.

“Cain and Milia were talking like that too, and Charis seemed to agree with them…”

These little… seriously…

“No, I doubt they were being serious. Don’t take it so literally.”

“R-Really?”

“Yeah, they were probably just joking around for fun.”

“Ah…”

Senia looked like she was convinced.

“I’m sorry. To be honest, I don’t have any experience or knowledge when it comes to romantic relationships… I’ve only read about them in books.”

“That makes two of us.”

“R-Really?”

I didn’t have any girls my age around me, and I was never that interested in other people’s relationships.

Though I did enjoy reading romance stories in novels.

“To me, it always felt like something that only existed in books… It never felt real. So when I heard that Charlotte might confess to Eriol, my heart fluttered a bit.”

Senia blushed as she placed a hand over her chest.

“Anyway, I’m sorry for the misunderstanding. I’ll be more careful from now on.”

“There’s no need to apologize. It’s fine.”

After we wrapped up that conversation, I asked her again.

“So, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?”

“Ah, well…”

Senia’s expression darkened slightly.

“When you collapsed yesterday, it was Cain and Charlotte who helped carry you outside.”

“Ah, really?”

“Yes, I was the one in charge of gathering the equipment and supplies.”

“You must’ve had a rough time.”

“It was a bit hectic. We had to quickly gather everything—Your dropped gear, the daggers we’d thrown—and shove them all into a bag to get out of the boss area as fast as we could…”

Senia carefully opened her bag.

“But later, I noticed… something else got mixed in.”

“Mixed in? What do you mean?”

“This.”

She pulled something out of her backpack.

It was… a bone.

“Wait a second. Don’t tell me…”

There was no mistaking it.

It was a bone from the dungeon’s boss monster, the Drake Skeleton.

“I realized it last night, and I wasn’t sure what to do…”

Senia looked disheartened.

“If someone finds out I took this without permission… will I be punished?”

“Punished?”

“I didn’t know what to do, so I wanted to ask you for advice…”

So that was what she wanted to talk about.

She was worried because she had accidentally taken one of the skeleton’s bones and wanted to consult with me.

‘Senia probably came to the Academy against her family’s wishes. If she got punished over something like this, it could be serious.’

If it were me, I’d just return it whether I was punished or not… but for Senia, it likely wasn’t that simple.

“Senia, I don’t think you need to worry that much.”

“Huh?”

“I read the tournament rules. It said participants are allowed to take loot with them.”

“But wasn’t that referring to items from the item boxes during the trial?”

“Not necessarily.”

I recalled what Joshua had once told me.

“There was a time when a Baikon was the boss monster. Back then, someone took one of its horns as loot.”

“That really happened?”

The Baikon is a horned horse, similar to a unicorn but with some different traits.

“Anyway, the tournament rules never said you couldn’t take remains of monsters. So I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”

“Then…”

“You can just keep it.”

Senia looked a little relieved.

But she still seemed a bit uneasy.

“Do you want me to hold onto it instead?”

“Huh?”

“If it becomes an issue later, I can say I took it by mistake.”

“N-No, you don’t have to do that…”

“Actually, I’m kind of interested in it now.”

“Interested?”

“Looking at it closely… it doesn’t seem like just a random bone. It looks more like a fang.”

On closer inspection, it really did look like a fang embedded in a jaw, not just a loose bone.

If it was a drake’s fang… then it was one of those so-called dragon fangs, a valuable item.

“It’s not as high-grade as a true dragon fang, but it can still be considered a rare magical material.”

“Oh, I’ve heard of that before.”

“It may not be worth much since it was already used in a skeleton summoning, but it’s still a valuable item.”

If I had known, I would’ve taken all of the drake’s fangs after we defeated the skeleton.

“But Eriol, what are you planning to do with it?”

“What do you think?”

“I’m not really sure… I don’t know much about this kind of stuff…”

“Honestly, I’ve never formally studied it either.”

This time, I had fought many skeletons.

And even faced off against a higher-tier undead— a vampire-type.

So… I’d developed an interest.

“If I can use necromancy to make a fang soldier, wouldn’t that come in handy when we go into dungeons?”

“…!”

A fang soldier.

That was the term for an elite skeletal warrior created using dragon fangs—on a completely different level from ordinary skeletons.

‘What’s going on?’

I had arrived at the lecture hall a little late, only to be greeted by thunderous applause.

Surely they weren’t clapping to mock me for being late… So what was all this about?

“Eriol, you did well yesterday,” said Professor Klein with a smile.

“If you hadn’t stopped Sabat Bastia, things could have gotten truly out of hand.”

“Professor…”

“To defeat a terrifying undead like a vampire… That’s a remarkable feat.”

“I didn’t do it alone. Charlotte from the advanced class helped me, and Cain and Senia over there fought with me too.”

I gestured toward Cain and Senia sitting in the back, and the two shrugged their shoulders.

“Heh, all we did was jump in to create a distraction.”

“In the end, it was Eriol’s fire magic that took down the vampire.”

Klein nodded at their words.

“There’s no need to be humble, Eriol. Your achievements have already been verified.”

“…”

“Soon, the academy will present you with an official commendation. As a member of the operations committee, I want to personally thank you.”

I thought everything had ended when we took down Joshua yesterday… but apparently, it wasn’t quite over yet.

“You’re the pride of the top class, Eriol.”

He was praising me so much it felt a bit embarrassing.

Cain and the others started cheering in support, which only made me more uncomfortable.

“Thank you. Then, I’ll just go ahead and sit—”

“There’s one more thing.”

“Yes?”

“It’s about the results of the dungeon raid competition.”

Come to think of it, I hadn’t heard about that yet.

The competition was cut short because of Sabat, so what did they decide about the results?

“After deliberation, the operations committee decided to rank the teams based on the scores at the time the competition was interrupted. Canceling the event entirely would have caused problems.”

“Then…”

“The team that took down the boss, the Drake Skeleton, came in first.”

The team that defeated the Drake Skeleton—

That would be…

“You and Charlotte Strasbourg’s team are the winners of this competition.”

“…!”

I held my breath.

I had been worried we might not have enough points, but to actually win…

“A team composed solely of first-years hasn’t placed first since Kaisel Valencia’s days as a student. You should be proud.”

Klein lifted his chin, smiling.

“And just to add, Cain Trigger and Senia Artian, over there, also placed a very respectable fourth overall. Though they ranked below Eriol’s team, that’s still an impressive result.”

“Haha, we gave it our best.”

“I’m flattered.”

Applause and cheers erupted for Cain and Senia as well.

“Professor.”

“Yes?”

“Um… what about Sabat and Helios? What rank did they get?”

“Hmm… originally, they were in second place. But since Sabat turned out the way he did, both were disqualified.”

“I see.”

I felt a little sorry for Helios.

If he’d partnered with someone else, he might’ve gotten a perfectly decent result.

“Anyway, great job, everyone. Some of you may not have received good scores, but if you use this experience to push forward, you’ll get better results next time.”

“Yes!”

With that, the discussion seemed to wrap up.

I headed to my seat, but Klein’s voice rang out again.

“And one more thing.”

“Another one?”

“Ah, you can sit down. This one’s for everyone.”

Finally, I could get out of the spotlight.

I let out a small sigh of relief and sat down.

“You did great, Eriol,” Senia whispered beside me.

“I was really worried after you collapsed yesterday. Are you okay now?”

“Yeah, I’m fine now.”

“That’s a relief.”

While we chatted, Klein surveyed the classroom and began to speak.

“As I mentioned before, today you’ll be receiving your midterm results.”

“Ah…”

I had completely forgotten.

Now that I thought about it, we hadn’t gotten our midterm grades yet.

Unlike the entrance exams, the midterms had more complex magical content, so it took about a week to grade them.

“By the way, your report cards will be sent to your parents by mail.”

“Ugh…!”

“That’s so cruel!”

Cries of despair broke out all around the classroom.

Come to think of it, what were my parents doing these days? They said they were starting over at a distant relative’s place…

“Before handing out the grades, I’d like to give some comments about the exams.”

Klein placed his hand on the lectern and spoke.

“The midterms had very inconsistent average scores across subjects. I suspect there were some issues with difficulty adjustment.”

“The elemental department’s questions were way too hard!”

“The third day was brutal!”

As the students complained, it was clear the third day’s Basic and Applied Elemental Theory exams had been especially difficult.

They were full of applied questions requiring deep understanding and insight—no way you could solve them just by studying past exams.

“But wasn’t the Magic Theory test on the first day, which I wrote, pretty easy?”

“It was relatively easier…”

“Still tough, though.”

“Even so, our class had an average score of 81. As expected of the top class, it was the highest in the school.”

Klein looked pleased that the class he supervised had outperformed the others.

“For reference, there was even a student who scored over 95.”

“95?!”

“Who was it?!”

At the students’ questions, Klein looked toward the front of the classroom.

“Monarch Orson scored 95.”

“Whoa…!”

“Of course it’s Monarch!”

“You’re amazing, as always, sir!”

Monarch raised his hand and smiled at the applause around him.

He’d always been excellent, and it looked like he’d prepared well for the midterms too.

“And one more person.”

“Yes?”

“Eriol Valencia scored 100.”

“…!”

The room went quiet for a moment.

“100…?”

“Yes, I included some pretty hidden questions to prevent a perfect score, but he got those right too.”

“…!”

I saw Monarch bite his lip.

Good thing I reviewed even the minor details.

The past exams had always included a couple of obscure questions most would skip.

Preparing for those made the difference in the end.

“In the other subjects too, Eriol either scored 100 or something very close.”

“…”

“But not in the Elemental Theory exams on the last day.”

Klein looked at me.

“Eriol, you got 55 in Basic Elemental Theory, and 45 in Applied Elemental Theory.”

“Ah…”

Honestly, I’d felt confident in those. It was a bit disappointing.

I’d filled out the entire test without leaving anything blank, but that was all I managed?

“But don’t be discouraged, Eriol.”

“Yes?”

“You were first place in both subjects.”

The classroom buzzed again.

I was honestly baffled myself.

“First place in the whole school with 55 and 45 points?”

“Well, there was actually some disagreement among the elemental studies professors. Some wanted to grade more generously to raise the average, but… in the end, we decided to grade as strictly as possible. That’s why the score gaps between subjects ended up so large this time.”

Klein gave a bitter smile, as if he had his own struggles with the situation.

“In any case, when we tallied all the exam scores… Eriol Valencia, you are the overall top student in the school.”

“…!”

Overall first place in the whole school.

I had achieved the rank I had aimed for.

---

In a classroom for the upper class, slightly removed from the top-tier class, the supervising professor was also giving some feedback on the students’ grades.

“Well done, Helios. Charlotte.”

Professor Inies praised the two top students in front of the class.

“Helios ranked fifth overall, and Charlotte took third. Beating out some of the top-tier class students for such ranks is truly commendable.”

Applause broke out among the students.

But among those being praised, Helios wore a grim expression.

“Professor.”

“What is it?”

“Besides Charlotte, who ranked above me?”

“You’re curious about that?”

Inies shrugged slightly as she replied.

“Well, first place is—”

“No need to tell me who’s first.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, it’s Eriol Valencia anyway.”

At Helios’s remark, Inies let out a small laugh.

“You hold Eriol Valencia in very high regard.”

“I don’t like him, but his skills are undeniable.”

“You’re right.”

“What about below that?”

“Second place was Monarch Orson from the top rank class. Third is Charlotte, right here… and fourth was Senia Artian.”

“…”

“Want to hear more?”

“No, I’m not interested.”

Helios answered firmly.

“I don’t have the luxury to concern myself with those ranked below me.”

“That’s a good mindset.”

Helios hadn’t been able to earn any points in the dungeon competition this time.

He had hoped to score well and surpass Eriol in the first semester’s overall evaluation, but ended up earning nothing. That’s because Eriol had won the competition together with Charlotte.

On top of that, Eriol had ranked first in the midterms, while Helios was fifth. The gap had only widened.

“If you want to make up for the setback this time, you’ll need to work even harder. Keep at it.”

“Yes, I understand.”

In truth, Helios hadn’t obtained the complete set of past exam questions.

He had studied with only a partial set. If he’d had the full version, he might have ranked higher…

But Helios didn’t want to make excuses.

‘Eriol… next time, I will beat you.’

Clenching his teeth, Helios burned with resolve.

---

Since I got first place in the midterms, I had to treat everyone.

Because that’s what Cain demanded, I ended up buying a meal for the study group.

“In the end, we couldn’t monopolize the top five ranks for our study group.”

“Well, it couldn’t be helped. Monarch Orson is really capable, and there were others in the Upper rank class who scored well, too.”

For reference, Senia ranked fourth, Charis sixth, Milia seventh, and Cain was eleventh.

They were all excellent scores, but we still felt a bit of disappointment.

“Cain, if you had worked a bit harder, you could’ve scored higher. You even took a nap the day before the exam.”

“Don’t nag, Charis. You’re not my mom, are you?”

After chatting and finishing our meal, we headed back to the dormitory.

“Eriol, do you think we might’ve ordered too much? Some of the dishes were pretty expensive…”

“It’s fine. I still have money left from completing that dungeon commission, and we’ll be getting the prize money for winning the competition soon.”

“Well, that’s a relief… Oh.”

Senia, walking beside me, suddenly seemed to remember something.

“Eriol, I think I’ll be able to get a temporary Ranger license soon.”

“Really?”

“Yes, through the Artian family…”

It looked like everyone was finding their own ways to secure recommendations, just like Cain.

“So, um… if it’s okay with you, would you go into a dungeon with me sometime?”

“I’d be happy to.”

Senia had close to Cain’s level of physical combat skills.

Being able to go into a dungeon together would be a great help to me as well.

“Actually, there’s something else I wanted to say…”

Senia hesitated like she had something more on her mind.

“Truth is…”

“…?”

What could she be trying to say?

As I patiently waited, a voice called out nearby.

“Eriol Valencia.”

I turned my head toward the voice.

Backlit by the orange hues of the setting sun… stood Charlotte Strasbourg, looking straight at me.

“I have something to talk about. Do you have a moment?”

“…?”

Her expression looked tense.

A dark night.

Joshua was spending a relaxed evening in the club room, just like always.

He preferred being here alone rather than sharing a dormitory room with someone else.

But suddenly, a voice came from outside.

“May I come in?”

Before he could even answer, the door swung open.

When Joshua saw who stepped into the club room, he jumped in surprise.

“P-Professor Kaisel?!”

It was none other than Professor Kaisel Valencia, the legendary member of the Rangers, who had appeared in the club room.

“W-What brings you here… Oh, right, I should greet you first! Welcome! I’ve always respected you!”

Joshua bowed deeply, but Kaisel didn’t show much of a reaction.

He simply stood in the middle of the room, staring at Joshua.

“Looks like the other students have all returned to the dorms. You’re the only one still here.”

“Ah… Actually, I’m not that close with my roommate, so this place is more comfortable for me.”

Joshua scratched the back of his head with an awkward smile.

“K-Kind of pathetic, huh?”

“I wouldn’t say that. But…”

“But?”

“Shouldn’t you be with your juniors right now?”

“My juniors?”

“I’m talking about the new members who joined the Rangers. They’ve just been through something serious.”

“Well…”

Joshua knew that the two of them had gone through a terrible ordeal due to the incident—or rather, the incident—inside the dungeon.

“To be honest… I just don’t have the face to see them.”

“You don’t have the face?”

“Yes. I feel like I’m partly responsible…”

“That’s not the right way to put it, Joshua.”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Kaisel didn’t answer his question.

Instead, he changed the subject.

“You must’ve heard. The recent incident was caused by Sabat Bastia.”

“Yes, I heard.”

“I also heard you didn’t get along with him.”

“Still, I don’t feel good about what happened.”

Joshua let out a sigh.

“We used to be close when we first enrolled. We drifted apart when we joined different clubs.”

“I see.”

“He bullied me a lot since then, but… I still wanted to make peace with him.”

“Then why didn’t you?”

“Huh? Well… he hated the Rangers. He blamed them for the deaths of his teammates in that dungeon.”

“Yet despite cherishing his comrades so deeply, Sabat drained their life force last night and left them on the brink of death.”

“…He did?”

What was this man trying to say?

Joshua stared at Kaisel’s face.

“Today, I reviewed the records of the accident from last year. The investigation was quite sloppy.”

“…?”

“If I had been in charge, I wouldn’t have closed the case like that.”

“Um, why are you suddenly bringing this up…?”

“Joshua. According to the records, you weren’t in the dungeon when the incident occurred.”

“Yes, that’s right. I wasn’t strong enough back then…”

“Sabat said the same thing in his testimony. But…”

Kaisel spoke in a cold voice.

“Did you really not go into the Labyrinth that day?”

“W-What are you talking about?”

“I’m asking if you, too, were there that day.”

“D-Don’t say ridiculous things! How could I have survived when everyone except Sabat died?”

“What if that was the plan from the start?”

“What?”

“Sabat wasn’t a natural-born vampire.”

He wasn’t a natural-born vampire.

Hearing that, Joshua’s eyes widened.

“True vampires are far more powerful. No group of freshmen could take one down.”

“Wait… then…”

“Sabat only became a half-vampire as a result of that accident last year. The victims from that day were used as sacrifices to turn him.”

“P-Professor…”

“Which means, someone else—someone already a true vampire—must’ve been there to turn him.”

“W-What are you talking about?!”

Joshua raised his voice.

But Kaisel remained unfazed.

“Let me ask you one thing, Joshua.”

“What now?! What kind of insane theory—”

Staring sharply at Joshua, Kaisel asked,

“Didn’t we meet on campus… twenty years ago?”

In that moment—

Dark energy exploded from Joshua’s body, lunging toward Kaisel.

BOOM!

Part of the building collapsed with a thunderous roar.

From the rubble emerged Joshua, spreading pitch-black wings of darkness.

Or rather—the true vampire who had been posing as the ordinary student named Joshua.

‘I should’ve killed you when we were students, Kaisel Valencia.’

Joshua clenched his teeth in frustration.

He regretted not eliminating Kaisel earlier.

“Don’t run, vampire.”

Just as Kaisel’s voice echoed from within the crumbling building—

The wings of darkness that had granted Joshua flight shattered into pieces.

“…!”

It was Kaisel Valencia’s magic.

But Joshua couldn’t even guess what kind of spell it was.

“I’ve suspected for a long time that at least one vampire had infiltrated the Academy.”

Kaisel’s voice reached Joshua’s ears as he tumbled to the ground.

“After the great vampire hunts centuries ago, your kind has continued to act in secret among humans. People tried to root you out, but with little success.”

“Kaisel Valencia…!”

“You’ve never acted directly yourselves. Instead, you created slaves like Sabat to serve as your puppets.”

Yes.

Sabat was a puppet created by Joshua.

He had originally been an ordinary freshman—until Joshua turned him into a vampire in the dungeon.

His memories had been brainwashed and altered, so he believed he had been born a vampire from the beginning.

“You’ve used puppets like him to run your tests—trying to figure out how best to shake human society, how to reclaim your power as vampires… experimenting with countless methods.”

“…!”

“While you yourselves remained safely hidden, using people like Sabat as expendable tools.”

Joshua tried to manipulate the dark energy to attack Kaisel.

But none of his attacks reached him.

They were all broken down and scattered.

“You’ve been changing your identity and operating within the Academy all along. Even back when I was a student, you were in the Rangers, pretending to be one of us. When you realized I suspected you, you faked your death and disappeared.”

“Ghh…!”

 

“But you came back to the Rangers last year. Thanks to that, I was finally able to get a hold of your tail.”

“Kaisel Valencia…!”

It was definitely a mistake.

He had stayed away from the Rangers for over ten years, but returning last year under the identity of Joshua ended up exposing him.

“It was my mistake not to kill you back then. So now, here and now—”

Joshua split his body apart.

While the half-vampire Sabat could only create five clones, the true vampire Joshua could produce over twenty.

Each of his clones was far more powerful than a fake vampire like Sabat could ever be.

“I’ll kill you!”

An all-out attack from every direction.

Half of the clones charged forward to tear Kaisel apart, while the other half raised their hands and threw dark energy.

It was an unstoppable, unguardable onslaught meant to crush Kaisel once and for all.

“It’s useless.”

“…!”

Whoosh!

From Kaisel’s position, hundreds of black blades extended outward.

Like finely polished obsidian, the gleaming black blades pierced through all of Joshua’s clones at once.

“Graaagh…!”

Agonized screams echoed as Joshua’s clones were obliterated in an instant by Kaisel’s merciless magic.

It wasn’t just physical damage—the black blades completely dismantled the spiritual energy that composed the clones.

Kaisel Valencia… How can a human wield such power…?

Joshua suddenly remembered—Kaisel’s spiritual origin was “Dismantling.”

A terrifying power capable of even unraveling the souls of the dead, like vampires…

This… I can’t win!

Admitting defeat, Joshua made his decision.

Fool! Did you think I’d let myself die here?!

While he had created over twenty clones just now, he hadn’t sent them all into battle.

He had formed a tiny, inconspicuous clone and already sent it retreating.

As long as even one clone survived, a vampire like him could live on.

As long as I avoid total annihilation, I win!

The lifespan of a vampire was practically infinite.

He could hide, recover his strength, and wait as long as it took—even until Kaisel grew old and weak.

One day… I’ll kill you!

With that vow, Joshua’s final clone slipped into the shadows—

Completely unaware of the massive fireball descending upon him from above.

---

“GRAAAH!”

A bloodcurdling scream rang through the dark streets.

After confirming that even the final clone had been incinerated, I descended from the rooftop where I’d been hiding.

“So he really tried to escape using a clone.”

“That’s the hardest part about hunting vampires.”

Kaisel and I had predicted Joshua would use a clone to escape.

That’s why Kaisel went in openly to confront him, while I stayed hidden—ready to destroy any escaping clone.

I couldn’t handle the real vampire Joshua yet, but I could take out a tiny clone trying to sneak away.

“We almost let the real culprit of this incident get away.”

“If we’d stopped at catching Sabat, he would’ve continued lurking in the academy, creating more victims.”

Since last year, Joshua had returned to the Rangers and had been searching for victims.

In the dungeon, it was easy to cover up any incident. That’s why the Rangers, a dungeon-exploration club, were the perfect front for his schemes.

“This year, he set his sights on Charlotte Strasbourg. She had outstanding talent but was isolated at school—she must have seemed like the perfect candidate.”

“So he treated her kindly, planning to lure her into the club and turn her into a vampire.”

“Exactly. And through Charlotte, he even got you—Eriol Valencia—to come to him. He must’ve been thrilled.”

Joshua had likely intended for Charlotte and me to be his next sacrifices.

He probably wanted to lure us into a dungeon… and turn us into vampires.

“There’s a good chance I would’ve ended up like Sabat.”

“I doubt you would’ve gone down that easily.”

“Uncle…”

Was that… a compliment?

It made me feel a little embarrassed.

“Well, it’s all over now.”

“Yes, it is.”

There was still some cleanup left to do, but for now, the incident seemed resolved.

“But seriously… I didn’t expect a monster like that to be hiding in the academy.”

“What are you talking about, Eriol?”

“…?”

“The academy is always full of danger. You saw me get ambushed not long ago, didn’t you?”

“…Yeah.”

“This academy was built on top of a dungeon teeming with monsters. It was never going to be a safe place.”

Kaisel looked around the academy, now shrouded in deep darkness.

“If you keep standing out here, you’ll face many incidents like this one.”

“…”

“Keep working hard, Eriol.”

Kaisel’s voice was calm but firm as he encouraged me.

“You can go even higher.”

---

The next morning.

Still worn out from everything that had happened, I slept in a little.

Today was the day they were handing out the midterm grades. I knew I shouldn’t be late on a day like this, so I hurried toward the lecture hall.

“Ah…”

When I arrived, Professor Klein was already on the podium.

I bowed my head and stepped inside.

“Sorry I’m late…”

“You’re finally here.”

But instead of scolding me, Professor Klein smiled brightly and turned to the students.

“Everyone, please give him a round of applause.”

“…?”

Suddenly, the classroom filled with applause, leaving me completely stunned.

Vampires are classified as undead, but they are quite different from ordinary undead.

Typical undead originate from the corpses or skeletons of living beings, whereas vampires are usually born as vampires from the start.

They obtain the energy necessary for activity by draining the life force of other creatures, and because they prefer to suck blood directly with their mouths, they are called vampires.

Like other undead, they are beings that transcend the laws of life and death, and they have a deep understanding of the “gloomy wave” that resurrects the undead.

Because of this, they can freely control lesser undead and can even seize control of undead under a necromancer’s command.

However, such vampires rarely show themselves to the world.

This is because they were thoroughly slaughtered during the “Vampire Hunt” centuries ago, leading to a drastic decline in their numbers.

The surviving vampires, fearful of being hunted by humans, went into hiding.

As a result, in modern times, vampires were considered creatures one could only read about in history books.

However… there are still some vampires who are dissatisfied with this situation.

They lurk among humans using their characteristic stealth, waiting for the right moment.

To once again reign over the world as lords of the dead.

---

“Don’t mess with me!”

Sabat jumped into the air.

He hadn’t used wind magic. It seemed he had launched himself without any relation to the element of wind.

‘What kind of technique is that?’

I could have figured it out if I had time to observe carefully, but now was not the time.

I had to control the skeletal monster made from Drake’s bones while simultaneously casting fire magic.

“Charlotte, get Helios to safety!”

“Ah, okay!”

Charlotte didn’t argue about wanting to fight too.

She instantly judged what the right move was.

‘If it comes to close combat, I’m at a disadvantage.’

According to records, vampires are far stronger than humans.

If Sabat had strength comparable to the vampires from the records, he could tear me apart with one hand.

I had never trained in magic intended for close combat — if he got close, it would be over.

‘I must not let him approach!’

I sent the skeletal monster forward to block Sabat.

But when Sabat raised his hand, I had a bad feeling.

“…!”

Right after I hastily retreated.

When Sabat swung his hand down, the skeletal monster was shattered by the impact.

‘What monstrous strength…!’

Since I hadn’t fully mastered necromancy, the bone connections were probably quite weak.

But I hadn’t imagined it would be destroyed in a single blow.

“You bastard…!”

Sabat flew through the crumbling bones.

Without hesitation, I launched the Fireball I had prepared beforehand.

“…!”

Boom!

The massive ball of flame struck directly, followed by a huge explosion.

“Ugh…!”

Confirming that Sabat staggered, I immediately retreated.

While securing speed with wind magic, I also prepared more fire spells.

‘My fire magic works. But it’s not enough to deal a fatal blow.’

Even though he had been hit head-on by the Fireball, Sabat wasn’t seriously wounded.

There were only scorch marks here and there.

‘What should I do?’

While moving rapidly with wind magic, I kept firing Fire Bolts.

Unlike skeletons, Sabat definitely felt pain.

Even if it was hard to inflict fatal wounds, I could at least keep him in check.

“These petty tricks…!”

Sabat swung his hand in frustration.

A dark, sinister energy burst out, swallowing up my Fire Bolts.

‘Vampiric energy emission…!’

According to a book I read before, vampires could spew out malevolent energy from their mouths.

Although it didn’t come from his mouth this time, it seemed similar.

‘If I come into contact with that, it’ll drain my life force!’

While continuously firing Fire Bolts to block Sabat’s advance, I kept my distance.

But Sabat kept releasing that dark energy and closing in.

“All you can do is run like a pesky fly…!”

“…!”

Thud!

Sabat’s fingers smashed into the wall, missing me by a hair’s breadth.

If I had been even slightly slower, my body would have been torn apart.

However, I couldn’t completely avoid contact with the dark energy.

“Ugh…!”

A sudden wave of dizziness hit me.

I lost control of the wind element and tumbled to the ground.

Sabat charged at me.

“Die!”

As he reached out toward me—

I moved the scattered bones around us.

“Ugh?!”

My focus was weakened, so I couldn’t form a proper structure.

But the bones randomly fused at the location I had specified.

Engulfing Sabat as he lunged at me.

“Damned things…!”

Sabat thrashed violently, scattering the bones.

In the meantime, I managed to widen the distance.

‘Fireball, once more…!’

While Sabat was still occupied with the bones, I unleashed another massive Fireball right above his head.

“Ugh…!”

Since it hit him right in the head, it seemed to have dealt substantial damage.

Sabat staggered, glaring at me with furious eyes.

“To be humiliated by a mere brat like you…!”

“…!”

Suddenly, Sabat jumped again.

His movement was completely different from before.

Had he been holding back his full power until now?

‘This is dangerous!’

I desperately summoned as much of the wind element as I could.

All my focus went into evading Sabat’s attacks.

But Sabat continued chasing me relentlessly.

“It’s useless!”

“…!”

He smirked as if sure he would catch me—

But then, a voice rang out from above.

“That’s our line.”

Thunk!

Two daggers flew through the air and stabbed into Sabat.

One embedded in his shoulder, the other in his leg.

“Kh… what is this…?!”

Sabat let out a groan of pain.

An extreme reaction, considering it was just small daggers.

‘Wait, those are… the multipurpose silver-plated knives sold at the shop where Helios used to work…!’

As I gasped and looked up—Two figures descended the stairs.

“Good thing we bought the silver-plated multipurpose knives. They’re working great.”

“Are you alright, Eriol?”

Familiar faces.

It was Cain and Senia, my classmates.

They were battered from fighting skeletons on the way here.

“You guys are so late.”

I smiled.

While fighting, I had hoped that someone from the tournament would come to help.

And secretly, I had hoped it would be Cain and Senia.

That hope had come true.

“Hey, is that how you greet people who fought through a horde of rampaging skeletons to help you?”

“Eriol, what’s up with that guy? He doesn’t seem human.”

“He’s a vampire.”

Hearing my answer, Cain and Senia grimaced.

“A vampire, huh? This is the first time I’ve seen one in person.”

“Doesn’t look like an easy opponent.”

Despite facing a vampire, neither of them wavered.

As expected of descendants of the Trigger family, famous for assassination, and the Artyan family, renowned for swordsmanship — both of whom once participated in vampire hunts.

“Cain, Senia. Can you distract him for me?”

“Giving us the hard job, huh?”

“It can’t be helped.”

Cain and Senia moved as I directed.

Both of them were much more skilled than me when it came to physical combat.

“You arrogant brats…!”

Sabat pulled out the silver-plated dagger stuck in his body and roared.

But Cain and Senia closed the distance while drawing their spare daggers.

“It’d be nice if we had better weapons. These are just for work.”

“I’d prefer a longsword too… but you need a permit to carry something like that.”

As Cain and Senia chatted leisurely, Sabat charged at them.

However, the two narrowly dodged and slashed at Sabat.

“Guh!”

While leaving small wounds on Sabat, the two moved swiftly in all directions.

Thanks to the time they bought, I was able to prepare a fire spell.

“Cain, Senia!”

When I raised my voice, Cain and Senia immediately backed away from Sabat.

Right after that, the fireball I launched struck Sabat once more.

“Graaah!”

Was it because he had already been wounded by the silver-plated dagger earlier?

This time, the damage seemed much more significant.

“Damn it, if it’s come to this…!”

“What the hell?!”

Cain exclaimed in surprise.

Sabat’s body had split into multiple copies.

“Clones?!”

It was said that vampires had the ability to divide their bodies.

Even if the clones were destroyed, as long as one remained, they could survive.

“He’s trying to escape! We can’t let him get away!”

“Damn it, how are we supposed to catch that many?!”

There were five clones in total.

They all tried to flee outside the staircase at once.

But just then—

“…!”

Paang!

Five ice spears dropped from above the stairs, hitting each of Sabat’s clones.

“I’ve laid Helios down in a safe place!”

“Charlotte…!”

Charlotte came running down the stairs, rapidly firing off ice spells.

Sabat dodged by moving erratically to evade the freezing magic.

He looked like a bat flitting through the night sky.

“At that speed, we can’t possibly land a hit…!”

“No, it’s fine.”

Thanks to Charlotte’s barrage of ice spells, the surrounding fire elements had absorbed the heat and were now superheated.

If I used that power, I could generate enough firepower.

“Ah…!”

Senia let out a gasp.

Since she had been practicing with me all along, she must have realized what I was about to do.

“Keh keh. Useless fools!”

The five clones laughed at us as they darted around.

“You’ll never catch me!”

“Well, we’ll see about that.”

I combined numerous magical strings in my mind to complete a spell.

The moment I projected the spell into reality, the superheated fire elements around me vibrated and released an immense amount of energy.

That energy condensed in front of my hand… and the spell of ‘homing’ was imbued.

‘Fire Missile, enhanced version.’

Papapapapang!

It was a guided flame missile, far stronger than when I had defeated Helios during the rookie tournament.

Not a mere distraction, but a sure-kill move meant to eliminate the enemy.

The fire missiles launched toward Sabat’s clones.

“What is this…?!”

The clones shrieked in horror.

They twisted and turned, trying to dodge the flames, but it was no use.

My homing spell perfectly tracked their movements.

“Gyaaah!”

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Since they had split into five, their defenses had weakened even further.

Every time a missile struck, one clone exploded.

“This can’t be happening…!”

KABOOM!

With the final missile’s impact, the last of Sabat’s clones exploded.

Thus, the vampire who had tried to build an undead army by exploiting the dungeon conquest tournament was completely obliterated.

“Haha! As expected of Eriol!”

“We did it!”

“Whew, that was close.”

Cain and Senia ran over to me, and Charlotte approached, letting out a sigh.

But then, I felt a severe dizziness.

“Huh?”

“Stay with us!”

“Eriol…!”

Maybe it was because I had come into contact with Sabbat’s dark energy, or because I had overexerted myself with powerful magic.

My body felt unbearably heavy.

“Sorry, I think I’ll need some help…”

“Eriol!”

As I felt someone catch me, I lost consciousness.

---

“Mmm…”

How long had I been out?

I opened my eyes, feeling groggy.

“You’re awake?”

“…!”

Startled by the voice beside me, I sat up.

Sitting next to the bed… was Kaisel.

“U-Uncle…”

“You were out for about three hours. Probably because you briefly came into contact with the vampire’s malice.”

Saying that, Kaisel handed me a plate.

On the plate were neatly sliced pieces of apple.

“Eat. I had it prepared for when you woke up.”

“Wait, did you… cut these yourself, Uncle?”

Kaisel Valencia cutting apples himself?

For his bedridden nephew?

That sounded completely absurd…

“No, Klein, who was here until a moment ago, prepared them. He was hoping to win some points by offering them to you once you woke up.”

“…”

Of course.

“He waited for hours, but now that you’re awake, he’s not even here. Poor guy.”

“When did you arrive, Uncle?”

“About three minutes ago.”

“…”

“Anyway, let me explain the situation first.”

Kaisel said in a calm voice.

“Sabat Bastia used his vampire powers to try to seize control of the skeletons placed in the tournament dungeon. His goal was to build an undead army of his own.”

“…”

“The skeletons, under Sabat’s control, rampaged, causing many injuries among the participants. However, since the rampage stopped sooner than expected, the damage wasn’t too severe. The professors quickly rushed into the dungeon and brought the situation under control.”

That was a relief.

I had feared many lives might have been lost.

“The reason the rampage ended quickly was because you swiftly eliminated Sabat.”

“Even without me, wouldn’t the professors have taken care of it?”

“Probably. But it would’ve taken longer, resulting in greater casualties.”

“…”

“You played a major role. Well done.”

It was unexpected praise.

Even when I took first place in the rookie tournament, Kaisel hadn’t been this straightforward with his compliments.

“But this isn’t over.”

“Huh?”

“There’s something bothering me.”

Kaicel continued calmly.

“Even if he seized control of those skeletons, it was still a pitiful force from the Academy’s perspective—nothing but a joke.”

“Well…”

“Sure, if he had taken the participants hostage, it could’ve been troublesome. But ignoring that possibility, the professors present could have easily handled the situation.”

“…”

He made a fair point.

Maybe in a normal small town, it would have been different, but this was Ars Magna Academy, filled with elite mages.

Even hundreds of skeletons would have been easily subdued.

“Sabat Bastia was a recognized prodigy here. It’s strange he didn’t consider that.”

“Then…”

“Looks like you’ve figured out what I’m getting at.”

Kaisel rose from his seat.

“Will you come with me?”

“Of course.”

Though my head was still spinning a bit, I got down from the bed without hesitation.

“We have to finish this.”

“Good attitude.”

Nodding lightly, Kaisel and I headed outside.