Necromancer Academy’s Genius Summoner - Chapter 76

Chapter 76

Elizabeth led the corpse spiders and went to retrieve the nustlelack corpses, originally coming here for that reason. Simon alone stepped on the teleport magic circle and moved to another place.

The place he arrived was near Hong Feng’s hut.

“Simon!”

Camibarez greeted him with a wide smile. In fact, she was getting worried about Simon being late, so she kept on glancing to her side at the magic circle.

“Sorry I was late.”

She came running in a heartbeat and looked at Simon with worried eyes.

“Did something happen between you and the assistant teacher?”

Simon quickly put his brain to work.

He could beat around the bush and tell her that it wasn’t a big deal, but things could get annoying if he got asked the same question by Rick and Meilyn.

He thought that it’d be better to give some appropriate reason here.

“Actually, on the way here, I remembered the nustlelack corpses, you know. I brought a few to study the undead.”

“Ah, I see! Summoning aspirants are extraordinary after all!”

Camibarez seemed to believe it without a doubt. Then, Meilyn angrily shouted from afar,

“What are you guys doing? Stop playing around and help us out!”

“Okay~”

“Got it.”

Everyone was preparing to make a fire.

Rick was laying straw on the ground and stacking up the firewood, and Meilyn was groaning and moving the firewood she had taken from the back of the hut.

“Rick! Where do I put th— Wah!”

As she was walking while looking forward, she staggered all of a sudden and lost her balance.

“You alright?”

Simon approached her like lightning and grabbed the firewood.

“I’ll move these.”

Then he lifted the firewood she was struggling with and carried it on his shoulder.

“You can help with other things.”

“Huh……? Uh… Thank you.”

Meilyn twisted her hair in embarrassment and turned around.

Simon put down the firewood near Rick. He thought they’d need more firewood, so he went back to the back of the hut.

‘Oh no.’

All the cut firewood ran out. However, there was a chopping axe and a tree stump next to him.

Simon took a thick piece of wood, put it on the stump, and raised his axe.

Slice!

The firewood was cleanly split in half.

‘Good, good. I still got it.’

As Simon was feeling proud of himself while wielding the axe, Camibarez was suddenly staring at him from the side.

She quickly picked up a new piece of firewood and placed it on the stump.

“I’ll help you!”

“……Ah, thanks. It’s dangerous, so step back.”

Camibarez backed off, and Simon raised his axe. The axe could be heard cutting through the air before splitting the firewood in two.

She clapped her hands.

“You’re so good! Did you do this often?”

“Yeah. This was one of my main jobs before I came to Kizen.”

Said Simon as he wiped the sweat off his forehead.

While Camibarez was bringing the next piece of firewood, Simon looked at the cross-section of the firewood.

‘It’s not split cleanly.’

Perhaps I placed more strength since someone was watching.

As Simon was making a wry smile, Camibarez placed a new log and stepped back, waiting with shining eyes.

“It’s just wood chopping. Is it that fun?”

“Yes!”

And just like that, with the help of Camibarez, he acquired a lot of firewood, held it in his arms, and headed to the bonfire.

“You made it bigger than I expected. Huh.”

Simon was amazed at the high pile of firewood. Rick giggled and pointed at the corpse of the nustlelack.

“The nustlelack we hunted is huge. We need to make it at least this big.”

“That’s true.”

Simon went to also help make the fire.

He laid straw, dry leaves, and twigs on the ground and stacked firewood on top of it into a pyramid. Now, as he ignited the kindling and fanned it, little by little, the flames moved to the firewood above.

“That’s interesting.”

Meilyn squatted nearby and rested her face in her hands.

“Is it really necessary to stack firewood like this?”

“It’s not that necessary, but this is the most common way to do it.”

After starting the fire, Simon slowly explained the fundamentals of bonfires. Rick, who was fanning it next to him, giggled.

“How can someone who controls fire not even know how to make a bonfire?”

“Ah, shut up. Do you think that this fire and the fire I use are the same?”

“Well, your personality is like a fire.”

“And your mouth is like firewood. It’d burn well if I split it in half and put it on the bonfire.”

“Oww, how brutal.”

The fire quickly became stable as he waited while listening to Rick and Meilyn fight like usual.

Simon brought over appropriately sized stones using a skeleton and laid them out in a circle near the bonfire.

Now it looked somewhat nice.

“Is everyone here?”

Everyone jumped up from their seats at the sound of a voice behind them.

“Professor Hong Feng!”

“Hello!”

She was carrying various tools on her back barefoot and had a bucket in her hand with some fish.

“Oh! Good job on making the fire. Shall we start right away?”

“Yes!”

The survival class started immediately.

She placed the nustlelack the group hunted onto a wooden chopping board.

“There are many different types of monsters, but the procedures in preparing them are almost the same, so please take a look.”

Her hands were feisty. She scraped off the fur with her knife, ripped its belly open, removed the intestines, and drained the blood.

In the end, Camibarez couldn’t take it and covered her eyes during the part where she removed the insides.

“They usually say monster meat often has this foul smell, right? This stench comes from the decay of the meat and blood. To get rid of this, it’s better to complete the preparation as soon as possible. Like this!”

After finishing the butchering class like that, the edible-looking pieces of meat were placed aside.

Hong Feng said with a smile,

“Just like that. Pretty easy, right?”

“……”

“……”

Meilyn and Camibarez nodded their heads with forced smiles.

“Okay then, next!”

This time she demonstrated preparing fish. This one was a much easier job.

“There are rivers and fish wherever you go, right? Fishing is also a great way to get food.”

Hong Feng slashed off the fish head, removed the scales, then removed the insides and washed it with water.

Soon after entering her hands, the fish was ready to be grilled.

“Now, let’s grill it.”

“Here comes the grill!”

Rick took a grill and fixed it on the bonfire, and Hong Feng placed the nustlelack meat on it. As the meat began to cook, the juices began to drip.

“That’s amazing. When prepared, it just looks just like pork.”

“It looks delicious!”

While grilling the meat, Hong Feng brought a few casks of spices and sprinkled them on top.

“I’m sure this many spices can be brought in.”

As she sprinkled the spices that looked like a mixture of peppers and seeds on the meat, a fragrance spread all over the place.

“And inevitably, the monster meat may contain parasites or bacteria. It’s important to grill it on a strong fire.”

“Yes!”

After a while, the meat was cooked and transferred to a plate.

Rick rolled over an oak barrel of wine, and Camibarez brought the tableware. Everything was ready.

“Cheers!”

In the end, it was an outdoor barbecue party disguised as a survival class. Everyone enjoyed eating and drinking in this lively atmosphere.

“It’s really delicious!”

Camibarez covered her cheek with an ecstatic expression. Rick nodded as well.

“Woah, I’m speechless. Totally. How can that disgusting bastard taste like this?”

“Hey! Could you not remind me of that when I’m eating something so delicious?”

Meilyn rolled her eyes and scolded Rick.

“Ah, Simon!”

Hong Feng looked at Simon.

“Where did Brett go? I was going to tell him to taste some of the meat since he helped me with the teleport and all.”

“Ah…”

Simon felt a guilty conscience, but answered back with a smile,

“I also told him, but he said he’d go back ahead since he doesn’t feel well today.”

“Mm~ Then I guess there’s nothing we can do about it.”

It was getting dark, and the feast was coming to a head. The bonfire was so big that it felt like a campfire.

Most of all, it took a short time to adjust, since the members were the same as the last time they had a drink. Today, even Camibarez, who was afraid of alcohol, drank well.

“Ah, that’s the stuff~”

Rick shook his head while giving off a smell of wine.

Rick liked alcohol, but he wasn’t a heavy drinker.

“Rick, you alright?”

“Huh? Yeah. I’m fine, I’m fine. Ima just take a piss real quick.”

Rick stood up from his seat and walked away, showing his back. He seemed quite intoxicated, as his gait was unsettling.

Then he stopped in a nearby grassy field and started taking his pants off. Seeing this, Meilyn screamed in fright.

“Uwaaah! Aghh! You crazy bastard! Do it somewhere further!”

Dribble sounds were heard after a while. Meilyn, disgusted, hurriedly covered her ears and turned her head.

“Gosh! Commoners……! Such disgrace!”

Simon and Hong Feng laughed as she screamed.

At that moment, someone rested their head on Simon’s forearm.

“……Cami?”

* * *

* * *

Camibarez, whose cheeks were blushing after drinking, leaned on Simon’s arm and fell asleep.

“Uuuuuumm…… Simoooon……”

“Professor. I’ll take her to the hut and let her sleep.”

“Yes. Please do.”

Hong Feng lifted the glass.

“Then I’ll have a toast with Meilyn!”

“P-Professor, you seem to be drinking too much tod—”

“Me too! I wanna toast with you too!”

Rick came running, making Meilyn run to the side in horror.

“Agh! You crazy bastard! Zip up your pants! Your pants!”

When Simon was about to get up after laughing, Camibarez pulled at Simon’s clothes all of a sudden.

“Cami?”

“……Don’t leave me……”

“I’m not leaving you.”

Reassured Simon, and he gently lifted her up in his arms.

She snuggled into Simon’s arms and rubbed her face against his chest.

“Hey, hey, Simon.”

Meilyn blearily opened her eyes.

“If you do something strange to Cami, I’ll kill you. Alright?”

“……What are you saying?” 

“Just put her to bed and come out quickly!”

Simon entered Hong Feng’s hut while carrying Camibarez.

She was sleeping like a log. As Simon slowly placed her on the bed, she lay in a comfortable position, curling up as though she was waiting for that.

“Good night, Cami.”

Simon stroked her hair and covered her with a blanket. The moment he turned his back and headed towards the door…

Grab!

Suddenly, something caught onto the nape of Simon’s shirt. Simon got pulled with incredible force and fell onto the bed as Camibarez opened her mouth.

“……!”

Camibarez now seemed like a completely different person. Simon’s face turned pale at the pressure radiating from her.

The moment her sharp fangs were about to head toward Simon’s neck…

Tap!

She quickly covered her mouth with her hands and pressed her forehead against Simon’s shoulder.

“No… Simon is… Zzzz.”

Then she fell asleep again.

Simon was so startled that he was dripping sweat.

Her face was so calm that it was hard to tell if what had just happened was a drunken hallucination or reality.

‘Cami…… Don’t tell me you… held it back for me.’

“Mmmmmm.”

Simon laid her straight on the bed and covered her with a blanket. He didn’t know what was going on, but somehow, he felt grateful.

Simon sighed in relief and smiled softly.

“Goodnight, Cami.”

* * *

Midterm exams had ended, and a new week began.

“I have an important announcement today.”

Said the professor in charge of Class A, Jane, while looking around at the students.

Now this pattern was quite familiar. The students girded their loins and waited for her next words. Jane took the official announcement from her assistant and read it.

“Yes, in two days, you’ll be doing an Island Survival Assessment.”

Finally, Kizen officially announced it.

Island Survival, also known as the Island Survival Assessment. A large-scale program involving all the first-year students.

The students made a clamor as though a bomb had exploded, but Simon and Group 7 all looked at each other with meaningful smiles.

‘Oh, how can I wait two days?’

Simon crossed his arms as the corners of his lips rose so high, they were about to ascend.

“Please just take one book per person!”

The assistant teachers went around quickly and distributed the performance assessment guidebook to the students.

“I’ll explain it briefly.”

Said Jane as she opened the guidebook.

The students followed along and opened the book.

“From Class A to Class N, all 961 first-year students who have survived so far will fall to the island through teleportation.”

Jane grabbed chalk and drew a circle that was perhaps supposed to be an island. A triangle was marked in the center of the island, and then dots were tapped on the outermost part of the island’s edge.

“You will start at a random location on the island’s outskirts. The rule that runs through the core of this project is simple. Survive for four days.”

The students nodded nervously.

“However, simply surviving alone wouldn’t be able to properly assess students’ abilities. This assessment has a point system. After all of the tests are over, your grades and rank will be different depending on your points.”

She placed small Xs over the island.

“You can earn points by hunting monsters that appear all over the island. From the weakest 1st-grade monsters up to 4th-grade monsters. Depending on the type of monster, you can get from 1 point to over 20 points.”

Then, Jamie Victoria raised her hand.

“That’s probably a question of how points will be counted, isn’t it, Jamie Victoria.”

Jamie blushed and lowered her hand. You could hear small laughs breaking out.

“We’ll use this equipment.”

Jane waved her bracelet. It had a round and wide body that looked like the mouth of a monster and had a string attached to it.

“It’s a biological artifact called a tongue pad. If you bring this artifact close to a monster that has stopped breathing…”

Thump!

The students screamed in surprise when the long tongue spurted out of the mouth-shaped bracelet. The long tongue skimmed through the training materials the assistant teachers had prepared in advance and then went back into the bracelet.

“This artifact will absorb the corpse’s mana and process it. Then, within 10 seconds, the pad will display the number in mana language.”

Said Jane as she showed the number on the tongue pad go up.

“So, hunting monsters isn’t an option, but a necessity. At least for meals.”

At those words, you could see some students’ faces stiffening quickly.

Afterward, Jane gave detailed instructions on how to use the tongue pad. In addition to simply absorbing the mana of the hunted monsters and turning them into points, you could also transfer the accumulated points to someone else’s tongue pad.

“Going back to the rules, battles between Kizen students are, of course, possible. If you make the other student’s barrier gauge hit 0, that student will be determined as ‘dead’. The assessment will be over for them, and they’ll be teleported to a safe area. At this time, the tongue pad of the student going to the safe area will spit out all the mana it had in a chunk.”

“……!”

In other words, if you hunted down another student, you could extort that student and increase your points significantly.

Jane didn’t really explain it in detail, but everyone knew that this was the key point.

“And one more important tip is that…”

She pointed to the center of the island with the chalk.

“In the center of the island, there’s a mansion that Kizen built. It’s an indestructible mansion, impervious to any means of attack. The inside of the mansion is the only safe zone on the whole island, and if you set foot in there even once…”

She turned to the students.

“After the assessment is over, 200 points will be given.”

The clamors of the students suddenly grew tremendously.

“All of you guys will start on the outskirts of the island, but you have to move towards the center of the island. After all, the difference between going to the mansion and not is huge.”

Simon, who was listening to the explanation, also nodded. You could reach the middle rank if you could get 200 points.

“I’m done explaining the important things.”

She said as she put down the chalk and turned to the students.

“This survival assessment comprehensively evaluates your survivability, combat ability, coping ability, and resilience when you fall into an unfamiliar place. The big rules are clear and simple, but there are many tricky, detailed rules. How you use these would be the skill. I hope that you’ll fully understand the contents of the guidebook over the two days.”

“Yes!”

“Then, for the rest of the period…”

Jane looked at her wristwatch.

The students’ eyes shone. Perhaps some free time?

“We’ll conduct a class with an outside lecturer.”

——