Chapter 328
Simon had to endure being tossed into the air five times by the students surrounding him.
It was while the heat of their mission's success still hadn't cooled.
The boss monster collapsed, and then, light shimmered in the sky as gift boxes descended.
"Jackpot!"
"Looks like this was a mission with prizes!"
One per person, a gift box dropped in front of everyone's feet. Simon, however, lay sprawled out, gasping for breath from the shock of being tossed into the air, caring little for any gift.
"What's in the gift?"
Simon asked. A female student who opened her box smiled brightly and replied,
"It's a Skeleton Set!"
Simon snapped back to his senses, hurriedly approached, and opened his own box.
It was true. And not just an ordinary skeleton, this was a Skeleton Mage Set. A product from the Fran brand, known to be on par with the top-tier Vanilla brand.
'They're giving out something this expensive as a prize? This BMAT really is insane.'
Since this was essentially a summoning-themed yellow card game, it seemed they had prepared summoning-related prizes.
A broad grin spread across Simon's lips.
"Everyone, good wor—"
But before he could finish, he noticed that the students were all looking at him with subtle smiles.
They began exchanging glances, then one by one, they nodded.
"Here, Simon."
The students began placing their Skeleton Mage Sets in front of him.
When eight Skeleton Mage Sets had piled up at his feet, Simon looked flustered.
"W-why are you all suddenly doing this?"
A headband-wearing girl laughed awkwardly and waved her hand.
"Come on, we have some conscience."
"Honestly, you did all the work."
"We're not even aiming for summoning studies, so we don't exactly need these."
A boy next to him patted Simon on the shoulder.
"Take it while we're still asking nicely. It's mandatory."
Then he was the first to step through the portal and leave. The others followed after him.
'…Ha-ha.'
Simon's eyes welled up.
This was… a bit touching.
* * *
"Great work, everyone!"
The students waved as they logged out of the game one by one. Simon also gathered up the Skeleton Mage Sets and stepped through the portal.
When he came out, the full four hours had already passed, and the after-school BMAT had ended.
All around, students laughed loudly as they returned to the dorms or headed toward the cafeteria.
Simon also began walking back to his dorm.
From this BMAT, he had gained two cards, and as prizes, two boxes of Crystal Skeletons, and eight boxes of Skeleton Mage Sets. It felt almost wrong to have reaped such a huge reward.
'I can't wait to put them together!'
Simon's mind was filled only with thoughts of assembling the Skeleton Mages.
He decided to save the Crystal Skeletons for later, since he wasn't sure how they'd turn out.
"Oh, you're back, Simon!"
When he returned to Room 409, Dick called out boisterously.
He had already gotten ready to go to the bathhouse and was waiting for Simon.
"This siege battle was so fun! The tactics everyone's using are getting more and more varied!"
Even on the way to the public bathhouse with a towel in hand, Dick didn't stop chattering.
With his arm draped around Simon's neck, he said,
"You promised the next game's siege battle is with me, right?"
"Alright, alright. I promise."
Apparently, the siege theme was always held at Keyzen Castle Walls. The card locations changed each time, but it was always somewhere on the walls.
Simon made a firm promise to join Dick in the next siege battle.
"Ugh, I feel gross. Let's hurry in!"
Dick grabbed the public bathhouse door and yanked it open.
Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze!
As the door swung wide, an explicit scene unfolded. Sweaty men, shirtless, showing off their muscular torsos, filled the air with thick clouds of steam.
Behind them, naked boys rushed headlong toward the bath. Dick quietly closed the door.
"Let's just wash up in the restroom."
"Y-yeah."
* * *
After showering, Simon immediately set out to assemble the Skeleton Mages he'd won.
As he stepped out of Room 409 with a Skeleton Mage Set in his arms, Dick—still lying on his bed—looked at him as though he were some kind of lunatic.
"…Seriously, we just finished a huge exam, and you want to make something like a skeleton?"
Holding the Skeleton Mage Set close to his chest, Simon smiled.
"Yup!"
"…You're relentless."
Dick shook his head.
Simon left Room 409 and headed to the dorm's break room.
When he opened the door and stepped in, there was no one inside. Everyone else was probably resting or at the cafeteria.
Simon took the largest table and set his box down.
[Excellent, boy!!]
Feer suddenly spoke up.
[Nothing's more important than expanding the army of the Legion! Indeed!]
"Yes, yes."
Simon laid his hand down and carefully examined the box. In the center were the words "Skeleton Mage", and below them, in stylish golden lettering, the Fran logo.
He felt his heart race like a child unwrapping a birthday present as he opened the box.
"Wow…"
Simon's cheeks flushed red, and his expression softened as if melting.
Inside, soft wine-colored cushions lined the box, and in the center lay the skull. In separate compartments were the spine, arm bones, and leg bones of the Skeleton Mage, arranged in an ideal order.
[Boy! There's another box underneath.]
"Yes, looks like it's two-tiered."
Simon set aside the skull-containing box and opened the one beneath it.
"A staff?"
Inside was a wooden staff for the Skeleton Mage. It came in two pieces—top and bottom—packed separately.
Simon took out the staff, peeled off the sticker on the lower joint, and connected the pieces.
The moment he did, the magic embedded within activated, and they snapped together as if they were one.
When he ran his hand over the surface, there was no seam. It felt like it had always been a single piece.
"Sorry to senior Benya Vanilla, but the Fran brand is getting pretty good too."
[Kuhuhuhuhuh!]
But nowhere could he find an instruction manual. As Simon rummaged through the box, Feer spoke.
[Boy, try opening the lid of the box.]
"The lid?"
Now that he looked, there was a small protrusion to pull on.
Simon grabbed it and pulled.
Thunk!
Out of nowhere, a blunt wad of paper fell out.
'This… is all the manual?'
It was practically an entire book. As Simon flipped through it with a shrrrkk sound, he found it packed with dense formulas.
Simon's pupils quaked.
[Kwahahahaha!]
Feer's loud laughter rang out.
[Now you understand? Skeleton Mage assembly is no joke from here on out!]
Simon had assumed it would be on the same level as the Magiste System covered in Aron's summoning classes, but he was dead wrong.
Magiste was a system for tinkering with an already-completed Skeleton Mage to find the optimal magic arrangement, whereas truly assembling a Skeleton Mage of one's own required a considerable amount of study.
And this was still "assembly" using a mostly pre-made skeleton.
Simon let out a forced chuckle and rolled up his sleeves.
"…I, I'm fired up."
[Kheh-heh-heh, your face says otherwise!]
Regaining his composure, Simon opened the manual to the first page.
It turned out that there was little content about assembling the body. Ninety percent of the book explained how to create the summoning magic circle for the Skeleton Mage.
'Let's get started.'
After skimming the manual, Simon spread out something called a Darkness Sheet on the desk and unfolded the magic circle. It was a sheet for practicing drawing the magic circle before applying it to the Skeleton Mage's skull.
"First, take control."
The basic shape of the summoning magic circle was already in place.
He unlocked its security, released the seal, then infused it with Darkness to claim it as his own.
Licking his dry lips, Simon moved on to the next step—activating the essential formulas and connecting the darkness circuits one by one as he read the manual.
"So I can choose the black magic the Skeleton Mage will use!"
For skeletons that used weapons like bows, their experience as monsters in life was important. It was based on reviving the physical memories left in the body to create an undead capable of wielding those weapons.
But a Skeleton Mage was an undead that used magic. As long as it had cast magic in life, the basic condition was met, and regardless of which magic it used back then, the summoner could select the spells it would use.
Simon thought of the ice magic he was most familiar with, Maylen's.
"Let's try Ice Bolt for now."
Simon lost himself in the formulas.
And…
He focused a little too much.
Knock, knock.
The sound of someone rapping on the break room door made Simon look up. A dorm manager peeked their head inside.
"W–whoa! Student! What are you doing here at this hour without sleeping?"
"Huh?"
"Look outside the window!"
It was already dawn.
The darkness was fading, replaced by the pale light of early morning.
Simon blinked blankly, then slowly stood up.
"Sorry."
"No need to apologize, but get back to your room and get some rest! Not that you'll get much sleep now!"
Time had truly flown in the blink of an eye.
Simon carefully placed the magic circle sheet back in the box and stood up.
* * *
"A notice in advance."
In the first class of the day, Summonology, Aron scratched his messy hair as he spoke.
"From the next lesson onward, we'll begin the actual assembly of Skeleton Mages."
At Aron's announcement, the students cheered, unable to hide their excitement.
"We finally get to make one!"
"An undead that uses magic! Amazing!"
But the summoning TAs watching them offered silent sympathy. By the next lesson, those cheers would soon turn into screams and wails.
"You'll need a Skeleton Mage Set as preparation."
Aron began writing a list of examples on the chalkboard.
"I'm not telling you to buy expensive Vanilla or Fran brands, but make sure you get one of the brands I've written here. Other brands have completely different Skeleton Mage production systems."
Just then, Dick nudged Simon's arm.
"Hey, perfect timing! You've got a Fran set already, so you can just follow along next class and keep pace."
"..."
"And don't pull another all-nighter, man."
Simon laced his fingers together with a serious look.
"When's the next Summonology class again?"
"In two days."
"So that means my deadline is in two days."
"…?"
Dick blinked, as if asking what on earth Simon was talking about.
"I mean, the class is in two days, so how is that a 'deadline' for you?"
Simon only smiled silently.
His goal wasn't the completion of a Skeleton Mage. His first-year's ultimate goal was to create a Lich.
He couldn't afford to be held back by something like a Skeleton Mage.
'I'll have it done before Professor Aron's class no matter what.'
Working through the night on the Skeleton Mage, he had felt a wall.
He wanted to break that wall with his own power, just to prove he could.
"And this should go without saying, but…"
When the class began to chatter, Aron banged the chalkboard.
"For the magic you'll make your Skeleton Mage use, make sure you've mastered the basics of the Darkness Element. I'm talking about things like Call Fire or Cold Bolt. I'd rather not see a necromancer who can't even use the spells they're assigning to their Skeleton Mage."
Dick's head whipped around.
"Maylen! Tutor me on the Darkness Frost system!"
"Ugh! You idiot!"
While Maylen snapped and scolded Dick, Simon was jotting notes in his notebook.
– Call Fire.
– Gust Circle.
– Cold Bolt.
Simon intended to make Skeleton Mages with all three elements.