Chapter 308
The practical evaluation began immediately.
The students rushed in, starting to choose their "rune pieces" and "staffs".
"This is the first time I've had such an exciting class!"
Maelyn, her cheeks flushed, said as she fiddled with a rune piece. Simon nodded in agreement.
Magiste system.
If you place a rune piece on the magic circle in front of the students' desks and supplement it with the appropriate formulas, the other magic circles beneath it would engage like interlocking gears, adjusting to maximize functionality.
The original summoning magic circle was incomparably more complex than this, but the Magiste system had been created for the purpose of summoning beast testing and development.
The purpose was to swap out runes or formulas simply, and test for the best summoning magic circle.
"Simon! Simon! Look at this!"
Kamibarez held up a rune piece and grinned.
"A Rune of Strong Blood! They say it's taught in the third year! We get to use such difficult runes!"
"Really? That's interesting."
Simon also began selecting runes slowly.
But the problem was—
"Give it to me!"
"I saw it first!"
Because the students were crowding in, the competition was intense.
While Simon hesitated for a moment, the rune pieces were disappearing fast. Students like Dick grabbed several at once, holding them in their hands just in case.
"Alright, alright, no fighting!"
A Summonology teaching assistant approached and said,
"There are plenty of rune pieces. If you can't find the one you want, please head to the adjacent lab."
Simon and the other students moved to the next lab.
"Woooow!"
The display shelves were packed with rune pieces, and below them were detailed descriptions and example formulas.
Maelyn let out a scream of delight, her face ecstatic.
"What is this, what is this? Why are they going this far for us?"
It was natural for Maelyn to be so excited.
Normally, learning a single black magic spell took a considerable amount of time. You had to understand the magic circle, grasp its flow, engrave the order into your mind, and repeatedly tame the Darkness.
But here, simply swapping in a rune piece could reproduce the effect.
Maelyn gathered a huge pile of rune pieces she liked.
'Hmm.'
Simon didn't reach for any rune piece hastily, but took his time to look around.
[Rune of Frequency]: Core catalyst for the Piercing Arrow.
'I want to get a feel for it first, so maybe I'll start simple with this.'
Simon picked up a rune piece and returned to the classroom. The teaching assistants were calling out.
"Alright, if this is your first time handling the equipment, don't try it alone and cause an accident. Call a TA and get instructions!"
Still, there are always those who, even after getting something new, toss the manual aside and just start fiddling with it.
The TA added,
"If you break it, you'll have to pay 50,000 gold!"
A few students flinched and froze. One student chuckled awkwardly.
"Come on, 50,000 gold for breaking just one of these…?"
"The Magiste system is all connected as one. If one breaks, they all break."
Only then did some students raise their hands with guilty expressions. Simon also raised his hand to call a TA.
"Rune of Frequency? Is this the one you chose?"
"Yes!"
"Alright, watch closely."
She slotted the rune piece into the central position of the magic circle. The rune piece melted into the circle as if absorbed, linking with the formulas.
"For the formulas and circuits, only draw the essentials and major lines with Darkness. The rest, the system will fill in automatically."
After sketching the formulas roughly, she pressed the completion button beneath the circle. The panel activated, calculating and stacking formulas rapidly to complete the magic circle.
–Beep! Beep!
Then the magic circle suddenly turned red, malfunctioning. Simon looked at the TA in surprise.
"What went wrong?"
"Oh! In this case, it's just 'capacity exceeded'."
"Capacity exceeded?"
"Yes."
The TA raised her index finger and explained,
"It means this black magic surpasses what the Skeleton Mage can handle. It's too heavy, too powerful, or too complex—basically, high-tier black magic."
"Ah, I see."
Indeed, if an undead like the Skeleton Mage could freely use top-tier black magic, there would be no reason for Darkness Dynamics majors to even exist in this era.
"In that case, make it a bit lighter."
The TA adjusted the number of projectiles from five to one.
Simon noticed the quantity late and chuckled wryly. Firing five shots at once, no wonder it didn't work.
"I actually set it that way on purpose to show you the error."
The TA smiled.
Once the number was reduced to one, the magic circle felt unbelievably simplified. It turned blue for a moment, then returned to its original color.
"All set! Go ahead and try."
"Yes, ma'am."
Simon placed his palm on the magic circle and moved the Skeleton Mage through thought. The mage's staff moved toward the barrier.
'Fire!'
At Simon's command, small orbs emerged from the magic circle at the staff's tip, gathered into a single point, and shot forward, hitting the barrier with a bang!
Simon let out a sound of mild disappointment.
Checking the barrier's readout, it showed 60% damage. Soon after, the magic circle restored it to 100%.
"Close one!"
The TA clapped her hands.
"See? This is basically how it works. To break the barrier, try changing the efficiency of the formulas or circuits, switch the staff, or replace the rune and have the skeleton use another black magic."
"Yes, I understand perfectly. Thank you!"
It was definitely an interesting class.
From all around, boom! sounds rang out as black magic struck the barriers.
"Ah, this doesn't work either?"
"I set the specs as low as possible."
Still, most students got the red "capacity exceeded" warning.
It was because they got greedy, setting up magic they wanted to see rather than magic the Skeleton Mage could realistically use.
"I understand your excitement, but remember, this is a proper evaluation, not a game."
Aron checked his wristwatch as he spoke.
"Class time is now exactly half over. Keep realistic specs in mind."
The students, snapping back to their senses, rushed to swap their rune pieces. This time, they brought runes they were confident in, or easy ones.
"Ah~ this is tricky."
Dick had prepared not one, but three shots of the high-tier black magic Atomic Blast.
"…Get a grip, Dick."
"Just one more try!"
* * *
"Student Jaime Victoria, success! Spell used: Scratch."
With fifteen minutes left, the number of successful students was rising. The successful ones had their names and spells written on the blackboard by the TAs.
"Student Pierre Buckley, success! Spell used: Impaler."
"Student Katherine Terrel, success! Spell used: Chain Lightning."
With ten minutes left, Maelyn licked her lips and raised her hand, her expression serious. The Skeleton Mage's staff moved.
"Please!"
An ice spike shot out, hitting the barrier. With a crash!, the barrier shattered.
"Student Maelyn Villene, success! Spell used: Ice Pike."
"Yes!"
Maelyn threw both arms into the air.
"…Could you keep it down."
From behind, Cindy Vivace said that as she prepared her magic. Maelyn glanced back, curious.
"W–what, Darkness Arrow?"
The most basic of basic black magic—one shot of Darkness Arrow—flew and hit the barrier.
Large in size, spinning like a drill, it slowly scraped away at the barrier until, at last, it completely broke it down.
"St, student Cindy Vivace, success! Spell used: Darkness Arrow."
Cindy straightened her back with a composed expression, watching as the TA wrote her name on the board.
Maelyn let out a wry laugh.
"…You're kind of a pervert."
"Thanks for the compliment."
Current success rate, 60%.
The students were in a frantic final sprint, attacking the barrier nonstop.
'But.'
Maelyn's head turned.
'What's with that Summonology prodigy?'
She and Kamibarez had already passed, yet strangely, Simon was taking longer than expected.
Hands behind her back, Maelyn casually approached Simon.
"Hey, if you're stuck somewhere, I can—"
Then, her eyes widened as she looked at his magic circle.
"Ahhh! What are you doing!!"
Several students frowned and glanced over at Maelyn's outburst.
She flushed, giving them an apologetic look, then turned back to Simon.
"You, you do know what the assignment is, right? Rune of Transmission?"
That was just a rune used for communication magic. No matter how she thought about it, it had nothing to do with breaking a barrier.
"..."
But something was off about Simon. It didn't seem like he could even hear Maelyn's voice.
Muttering strange words, Simon was completely absorbed in the magic circle, his pupils looking like those of someone whose mind was somewhere else. Saliva was pooling in the corner of his mouth.
'…That's some serious focus.'
A shiver ran down Maelyn's back, and she hugged her shoulders.
'No, but is he even aiming in the right direction? Is the Rune of Transmission actually okay?'
She could admit his concentration was impressive, but she was worried this time that the mad focus was aimed in the wrong direction.
Kwaaaang!
Just then, a loud boom drew everyone's eyes.
"S, student Hector Moore, success. Dragon Breath."
The barrier was completely shattered. Aron approached and closely examined his magic circle.
'Impressive.'
The Skeleton Mage had used his family's signature black magic.
Of course, it wasn't a real Dragon Breath.
Hector had tuned the specs, cutting down the runes and formulas to mimic Dragon Breath. Even partially reproducing a family's signature black magic with an undead was a feat far above the average student's.
'I don't particularly like the phrase, but he's living up to his family name.'
Hector let out a light breath and looked at the board.
"?"
He, too, noticed Simon's name still wasn't there, and glanced at him. Simon was still intently adjusting something.
Aron spoke.
"Three minutes remaining."
The students tried their last spells. The TAs were busy writing the successful names on the board.
"Simon…!"
Maelyn bit her lip anxiously.
"One minute left."
Maelyn, Hector, and quite a few other students were all watching Simon now.
It was only natural, the Summonology ace of Class A still hadn't passed the evaluation.
"Twenty seconds."
It was over now. Most students had made their last attempt, then let their hands drop, accepting the result.
The only one still with a hand on the magic circle was Simon.
Right then.
Simon's Skeleton Mage's staff moved.
"He cast a spell!"
"Hm? Nothing's happening, though."
While everyone was watching Simon's Skeleton—
Cheok!
The change appeared elsewhere.
Cheok! Cheok! Cheok!
In every classroom, the Skeleton Mages whose students had let go of them were now moving their staffs.
"Ah!"
And every staff was aimed straight at Simon's barrier.
In the next moment, the staffs fired.
Kwooooooosh!
Rumble rumble rumble!
From all directions, different roars rang out as dozens of spells were launched simultaneously toward Simon's barrier.
The students cried out in shock, ducking or lowering their heads.
And then—
Daaang!
The bell rang, signaling the end of class.
When everyone looked up, Simon's barrier was shattered beyond recognition.
"H, he controlled my Skeleton Mage?"
"My Chain Lightning…!"
Simon opened his eyes, letting out a sigh of relief. The TA's shoulders trembled as she spoke.
"S, student Simon, success. Impaler, Dragon Breath, Scratch, Chain Lightning… and about thirty other spells."
Hearing this, Aron gave a short, incredulous laugh.
'Seriously, this lunatic.'
Soon, half the blackboard was filled with Simon's name and his list of used spells.
"Hey, hey! What the hell did you do?"
Maelyn came up to ask.
"Hive magic."
Simon said, panting.
"I recreated Professor Aron's magic."