Summoning Genius of Necromancer School - Chapter 11 Hector was the one called this time. Mei-rin pouted, clearly disappointed, and leaned back in her seat, while Hector slowly rose. Just like in their first class, Simon and Hector stood facing each other. The teaching assistant placed a Skeleton Set at their feet. "There's about 10 minutes left until the class bell rings." Aaron said, checking his wristwatch. He then rummaged through his pocket, pulled out a cheap necklace, and hung it around the neck of a skull model placed at the front of the classroom. "Use your skeleton to get this necklace. The one who possesses the necklace when the class ends wins. You are forbidden from moving yourselves or using other dark magic, but any other action is permitted. Alright, prepare." Aaron extended his arm. Both students lowered their stances. "Begin." Simon and Hector simultaneously knelt before their Skeleton Sets. 'I can do this!' Simon's eyes gleamed as he pulled out a skull. 'I can win this class!' Simon poured Jet Black into the magic circle within the skull, awakening the undead. The skull, with black light flickering in its eye sockets, made clattering sounds as if alive. 'Let's assemble the spine all at once. From number 2 to number 7...' Simon looked up at the blackboard. But then. "...!" The teaching assistant, with an apologetic expression, was peeling off the bone structure diagram from the blackboard. Aaron spoke. "'Cheating' is not allowed in this match." Simon bit his lip. Hector's pupils also wavered in surprise, but he quickly turned his attention back to his Skeleton Set. Simon also composed himself and picked out bones. 'Still, the bones have numbers, right? I just need to assemble them carefully, one by one, from number 1!' However. No matter how he examined the bones, there were no numbers written on their surfaces. "What you used earlier were materials for class. The teaching assistants painstakingly wrote the numbers on them. Skeleton Sets sold commercially rarely have bone numbers kindly written on them." Aaron's calm voice echoed. "I told you, didn't I? Necromancers must master all of it." It felt like the sky was falling. Simon glanced at Hector. Hector, who had already completed his advanced studies in all subjects, was assembling his skeleton without hesitation, as if he had memorized the sequence and structure of the Island Ratman's bones. '...Don't give up. I've built one before, so the important bone sequences must be in my head.' Simon also found the 2nd cervical vertebra and began assembling it step by step. Aaron folded his arms and observed them. 'Special Case #1 is touching a skeleton for the first time.' He turned his head to look at Hector. 'On the other hand, that brute has memorized the sequence and structure. He's building it by relying on knowledge and memory.' Aaron had his own reasons for covering the bone structure diagram and not providing bone numbers from the first class. Of course, this would overwhelmingly favor those who had studied in advance, but Aaron's concern wasn't about who would win. His goal was to find students with a natural sense for Summoning Studies. 'Hector, was it? He has a sense.' While his advanced knowledge formed the basis, it was his intuition that allowed him to avoid mistakes at crucial moments. If there were two confusing options, he would choose the correct one with a very high probability. 'On the other hand, Special Case #1...' He was struggling from the very beginning. The sequence of important core bones was wrong, shaking the overall assembly balance. Seeing him haphazardly swapping bones, it seemed his mental state was half-gone. While he didn't necessarily favor advanced study, if one's skill was lacking, at least their preparedness should be good. 'Hector seems to be the only one worth salvaging in this class.' Click. Clack. Hector's skeleton, which had already completed both legs, stood upright. Applause erupted from various places. In particular, the four students who had declared themselves a faction stood up and chanted Hector's name. 'I'll win.' Hector began assembling the arms, glancing at Simon. That guy was stuck on the torso assembly. He looked completely panicked. 'And since I'm winning anyway, I'll thoroughly crush him so he can never rise again.' Hector finished assembling the right arm. He could have gone straight to get the necklace, but he showed the余裕 (leisure/余裕) to assemble the left arm as well. 'I need to make him a laughingstock in class. I need to directly break his confidence from special admission and make him hit rock bottom.' He finished the left arm in an instant. Hector had completely assembled a skeleton without even looking at a diagram. Hector's skeleton began to move. It was a little unsteady, but it was definitely taking one step after another. The skeleton circled Simon, as if taunting him, then picked up the necklace from the model and put it around its own neck. Hector raised his muscular right arm. At the same time, his skeleton also raised its right arm in a performance. The students sitting down burst into boisterous laughter. "Only 5 minutes left now." Aaron's cold voice was heard. "..." Simon was still struggling with the torso assembly. Was it due to nervousness, or being conscious of his opponent? Even the sequence of bones that he almost remembered had evaporated from his mind. 'Calm down.' Simon put down the bones he was holding. When the bone sequence or numbers learned in class didn't come to mind, Simon used instinct, or intuition, to put them together. As a result, knowledge and intuition, these two, clashed and intertwined, churning in his mind. So Simon decided to give up. Unless one had a genius-level memory, it was impossible to memorize every detailed sequence of bones from a single class. Therefore, he would abandon the knowledge learned in class. 'This time, I'll just assemble it by intuition, just by what my heart tells me.' Simon knocked over the skeleton he was assembling with his arm, destroying it. Surprised gasps erupted from various places. "Did he give up?" "No skill, no perseverance." "What kind of Special Case #1 is that?" Simon paid no attention to those voices. He didn't want to leave even a shred of regret within the given time. He picked up the #1 skull. And in that brief moment, common sense and habit, without his knowing, screamed at him to pick up the #2 cervical vertebra. 'As I wish!' Simon ignored it and connected bones #5, #7, and #10 to the skull in succession. "Huh, isn't he wrong from the start?" "It's over." Simon gritted his teeth. He didn't necessarily have to create the 'correct answer'. Professor Aaron's requirement was simply to make a skeleton stand up and get the necklace, no matter how it looked. 'No time. I'll boldly discard difficult structures and simplify it.' 'I'll make the front legs centered around #20.' '#27 is crucial, so I can't remove it. Instead, I'll take #29.' Aaron, who had been silently watching Simon's work, widened his eyes. 'This is...!' What Simon was creating was not a bipedal Island Ratman. It was the form of a quadrupedal beast, with two legs and two arms on the ground. 'Impossible. Absurd. But...!' It was unmistakable. The bone structure was similar to the 'Grey Rat,' a large rat monster found in major cities of the Western Continent. They essentially belonged to the same biological classification category and were known as the pre-evolutionary form of the Island Ratman. 'He's reassembling the bones differently to recreate the pre-evolutionary form of the Ratman?' Of course, their anatomical features, ecology, and internal organs were distinctly different, so he couldn't perfectly create a Grey Rat. But what he was creating now was an 'undead,' detached from biological common sense. It was possible to move bones with dark magic, whether they fit well or not. 'He connected the #49 tailbone to the thorax. It looks plausible.' 'How does he know that #11 and #16 are compatible?' 'He's not understanding it through concepts and knowledge, but intuitively perceiving the natural order?' What was being created before his eyes was a defective product, infinitely far from the correct answer Aaron had presented. Nevertheless. Aaron was feeling a thrill like the ocean. 'Something's strange.' Hector, meanwhile, also felt that Simon was doing something unusual. Simon's creation, with its two arms and legs on the ground and its upper body lowered, was a grotesque skeleton that couldn't be called an Island Ratman. But something was definitely being created. "You got this, Simon!" In the silent classroom, Cindy Vivace suddenly jumped up and raised her arm. "The form is there! I don't know what it is, but complete it as is!" Dick had also risen from his seat and was shouting. Other students also watched Simon's creation with tense expressions. Even Mei-rin, the top student in Class A, was half-risen from her seat. Hector bit his lip. I'm the one who completed it. In the shortest time, without looking at a diagram. I'm the protagonist. But why isn't everyone looking at me? Hector grew anxious. Just like in the first class. 'You think I'll just watch?!' Hector commanded his skeleton. Aaron had forbidden direct movement or other dark magic, but allowed any other action. Hector's skeleton began to rush towards Simon. Simon seemed not to notice, concentrating on his assembly, and loud shouts of 'Watch out!' erupted from various places. Crash! Finally. Hector's skeleton kicked and shattered Simon's skeleton. The torso collapsed with a crash, and bone fragments scattered into the air. Students covered their mouths and jumped up from their seats. 'I won. Simon Pollentia!' Hector, dripping with sweat, smiled in victory. But. '...Why?' Simon, as if he had known all along, extended his right arm with a smile. Something was wrong. Time felt infinitely slow as Hector's pupils moved in the direction Simon's right arm was pointing. Among the bones that had flown up from the kick, an arm bone was seen arcing through the air. It flew past Hector's skeleton, executing a simple, yet perfectly precise single movement. Rustle. The arm grabbed the necklace from the skeleton's neck, pulling it off. Then, as if losing power, it dropped to the floor with a thud. Everyone's mouths hung open. And at the same time. Ding-dong- The clear sound of the class-ending bell echoed. "..." "..." A deep silence filled the classroom. No one could speak. Even Aaron stared blankly at the skeleton's arm on the floor, clutching the necklace. "Th-this... No!" Hector screamed in desperation. "Professor Aaron! You said to get the necklace with a skeleton! That's not a skeleton or anything, it's just a meaningless bone fragment!" Heh. A small laugh was heard. Everyone's gaze turned to where the laugh came from. Simon, sitting on the floor, sweating profusely, raised his head and looked directly at Hector. "Doesn't look like it?" Whoosh! The arm bone holding the necklace flew as if pulled by a magnet, colliding with the collapsed torso. Clack! Clatter! Thunk! The bone fragments scattered on the floor began to attach themselves to the fallen skeleton's torso. The skeleton staggered, rose to its feet, and perfectly recreated its appearance from before it was shattered. Hector's pupils trembled in disbelief. The skeleton, clutching the necklace, approached Simon. Then it stood on two legs and placed the necklace around Simon's neck. Simon grinned, staring at Hector's sour expression. "Is that good enough now?" Without anyone starting it. Violent cheers erupted in the classroom.
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