"A Bone Dragon. I wonder when you’ll be able to handle this?"
Simon was mesmerized by the beautiful, skeletal form of the dragon, half-buried amongst the orange autumn leaves. His first year had culminated in the creation of a Lich. Now, in his second year, Aaron had set the goal of creating a Dullahan, but...
"Before the end of my second year."
A thrilled smile graced Simon’s lips.
"I’ll make it my goal to create it. No, I ’will’ create it and command it."
Watching Simon clench his fist in determination, Nephthys smiled brightly.
"Yes. Good luck, our Student Council President!"
The next morning, Aaron’s Intermediate Major Summoning class began. After constructing their Skeleton Knights on the first day, the second was dedicated to practicing their operation and mastering the signature skill, ’Bash’.
The class was held at the outdoor training ground, where students stood with the Skeleton Knights they had made the day before, spread out with ample space between them. Each of their creations powerfully swung its sword through the air.
"Channel the jet-black from your summoning magic circle and focus it into the sword," Aaron instructed, strolling among the students with his hands clasped behind his back. "The creatures that serve as the primary materials for a Skeleton Knight all understood the concept of aura when they were alive. There’s no need to rely on a magic circle. Guide the undead to recall the memories of its life and naturally reproduce the technique."
Aaron turned his back to the class and raised his voice.
"Another strike."
At his command, all the knights’ swords came down as one. The blades of a few turned an inky black before returning to normal, and the students who had succeeded let out cries of joy.
"Well done," Aaron praised. "Aura is a technique of imbuing a sword with mana, a power symbolic of the knights of old. Think of it as manifesting that power with the jet-black of the undead."
"Yes, sir!" the students chorused.
"Another strike."
Leaving the rest of the class to his head teaching assistant, Aaron went around to comment on each student’s performance.
"Alibaran Finesse. I know you’re skilled in swordsmanship, but don’t obsess over the knight’s posture. The purpose of this training is to find the sword path the knight was most comfortable with when it was alive. Once that path is complete, Bash will naturally follow."
"Yes, thank you!"
"Hector Moore. You’re too rigid. Your will is so powerful that the knight you created yesterday can’t keep up. Control your tempo and intensity."
"Yes."
After correcting a few more students, Aaron turned his head.
’Simon Polentia.’
The boy had already mastered ’Bash’. The black energy on his Skeleton Knight’s sword wasn’t just flickering; it was being maintained for a considerable length of time.
’But why is he so fired up today?’
Simon’s eyes, fixed forward, burned with a serious light. Aaron recognized that look. It was the same one he’d had when he was contemplating a Lich while everyone else was making Skeleton Mages. He’d thought the boy would only get this driven later in the semester. Did something happen last night? A change of heart, perhaps?
His curiosity piqued, Aaron approached him.
"Simon Polentia."
He called his name, but Simon was so focused he didn’t even hear him from right beside him. Aaron waited patiently. At the head assistant’s shout of "Strike!", the knight under Simon’s control brought its sword down.
The sword sliced through the air with a clean trajectory that was a sight to behold. It wasn’t a perfect posture, thanks to the knight’s defective waist, but it was the best possible result under the circumstances.
Finally breaking his concentration, Simon let out a breath and wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Simon Polentia."
Simon jumped in surprise and spun around.
"Ah, yes! Professor!"
"Bash’, as used by a knight, is a striking skill that gathers jet-black into a line and explodes it all at once. What you’re having your knight do right now is a technique closer to an enchantment than Bash."
"Ah, well..."
Simon scratched the back of his neck.
"Actually, I ended up with this while trying to find the most suitable trajectory for my knight."
Aaron’s eyes widened in surprise. ’Did he find a creative direction on his own, without anyone’s advice?’
Quickly regaining his composure, he turned his head.
"In that case, fine."
Aaron said no more and walked over to correct the swordsmanship of the knight Toto was controlling.
After the practical session, a thirty-minute break was given. Aaron, perched on a bench at the training ground, watched Simon with a peculiar gaze.
’At this point, his diligence is almost scary. What on earth happened?’
Simon’s training continued even during the break. When he commanded his Skeleton Knight to spin, its body rotated like a top. The effect of Bash seemed to be included as well; this time, it was a pitch-black top.
Toto threw a stone at it, and the stone was ground to pieces with a sharp ’crack’. Simon and Toto cheered and high-fived.
"Hey, Toto! Check this out, too. I’ve developed a new technique."
"What is it? What is it?"
"It’s still in the experimental stage, though."
A subspace opened directly in front of him with a rush of air.
As soon as the subspace opened, three Skeleton Knights emerged, spinning like tops and tearing through the air as they passed. This was no simple waist-level spin like the first Skeleton Knight. From the tips of their toes to their upper bodies, their entire forms were rotating.
"A-Amazing!" Toto yelled.
The other students, who had been resting, watched with sparkling eyes.
However, the stopping motion wasn’t perfect yet. As they spun, the knights’ bodies shattered, sending bone fragments flying. Simon ran around to pick up the pieces, and Toto rushed to help him.
"Simon! You had three more knights?" Toto asked as he ran over, his arms full of bones.
Simon glanced around at Aaron and the other assistants before whispering, "I actually bought them in Rochest yesterday to test this technique."
"Aha!"
"I’ve also come up with a rough name for the technique. Blade Storm?"
"How about Whirlwind?"
Watching from a distance, Aaron covered his forehead and let out a deep sigh.
’...That absolute madman.’
A short while later, while Simon and Toto were in the restroom, a number of students started trying to spin their own Skeleton Knights. A strange new trend was sweeping through the Major Summoning class.
That concluded the morning’s practical session. Aaron led the students back to the lecture hall. Practicing with Skeleton Knights was important, but they still had to cover the textbook material.
"Come to think of it, there was a question I received from several students yesterday," Aaron said, tapping the chalkboard with a piece of chalk. "When I mentioned we would be creating the Tier 3 undead, the headless Dullahan, many of you asked what the term ’Tier’ meant."
Students like Aseraz and Hector, who had studied ahead, chuckled. Simon, on the other hand, just darted his eyes around.
’I don’t know either.’
"Quiet."
At Aaron’s command, the room fell silent again.
"This is a concept not covered in the first-year Summoning curriculum, so it’s natural for you not to know. I’ll explain."
He wrote the word ’Tier’ on the chalkboard.
"As you know, it’s a term that means ’level’ or ’grade’. I don’t particularly like it, but it’s widely used in the field, so let’s go over it."
The chalk in Aaron’s hand danced across the board.
"In Summoning, Tier is a slightly different concept from ’rank’. All of you have a maximum number of undead you can control at once."
Simon nodded. Without using his power as a Legion Commander, he could currently handle eight summoned undead simultaneously. He had reached that number around the second semester of his first year, and it hadn’t increased much since. Of course, through rotational operation, he could make it seem like he was handling more. And if he mobilized Cloud to use the ’Royal Guard’ technique, he could handle twenty-four undead or even more.
"I can do five," Toto’s voice piped up.
"I can do eight," Fitzgerald said, pushing up his glasses.
As the students murmured amongst themselves, Aaron resumed his explanation.
"The maximum number of undead one can control with their focus varies greatly from person to person. Now, let’s say there’s a necromancer who can control a maximum of ten undead at once."
Aaron swiftly drew numbers on the chalkboard.
"This necromancer can control ten Tier 1 undead, or five Tier 2 undead. For Tier 3 undead, they can manage up to three."
’I see!’
Simon’s eyes widened.
’It’s the amount of focus required to control an undead!’
"You should have a rough idea by now," he said, setting down the chalk. "Undead with a strong will and a sense of self consume a considerable amount of your focus to control. In such cases, handling just a few of them will prevent you from commanding any others."
The students all nodded in unison.
"However, as I said at the beginning, I don’t like this concept. I don’t want to instill unnecessary prejudice in my students. First, Tier is a relative concept."
Since controlling undead with focus is a matter of mental strength, it varies from person to person. For instance, among necromancers who can all handle a maximum of ten undead, one might manage five Tier 2s, while another could handle five Tier 2s plus an additional Tier 1. There are even necromancers who require less focus to command a Tier 4 than a Tier 3.
"Don’t take it as an absolute. Just think of it this way: the higher the Tier, the more difficult it is to handle, but the more powerful the undead. And second, the maximum number of undead you can handle does not represent a summoner’s strength."
He wrote a name on the chalkboard.
"For example, Renji Mahomes, an active member of the Crows, can only control a maximum of three undead despite being a professional necromancer. But with just that, he has risen to the top. The ’Golem Trio’ he leads is considered one of the strongest summon combinations in existence."
The students began to take notes, their expressions intrigued.
"Lastly, third, Tier has many variables. Some of you may know this, but a ’Lich’ is a Tier 1 undead. The same tier as a regular zombie or skeleton. But are a Lich and a skeleton on the same level? Of course not."
Aaron looked around the room.
"That’s possible because of a Lich’s unique characteristic: its heart, a ’Life Vessel’, is stored externally. And there are also Tier 0 undead."
"Tier 0!" exclaimed a student.
"What’s that?" asked another.
At the question, Aaron grinned and wrote two words on the board.
"Ancient Undead."
Simon felt his heart drop into his stomach.
"These ancient beings do not require a necromancer’s focus. They are beings capable of controlling other undead as their own kin. Likewise," he wrote the words ’Legion Commander’ above it, "Legion Commanders can control thousands, even tens of thousands, of legion-type undead regardless of these concepts. They are not bound by numbers."
"Woooow...!" the students gasped.
"Unfair," Toto grumbled.
Hearing Toto’s complaint, Simon broke into a cold sweat, though he kept a smile on his face.
"Of course, it’s said that even Legion Commanders don’t rely excessively on units led by Ancient Undead. They are known to handle their own directly summoned undead with near perfection."
Aaron glanced at the clock on the wall.
"Time’s almost up. Any other questions about the class?"
As the students remained quiet, a hand went up. It was Simon.
"Simon Polentia."
When Aaron nodded, Simon stood and spoke, his eyes serious.
"This might be a bit of a random question, but what tier is a Bone Dragon?"
The students’ murmuring ceased. Aaron looked at Simon with a peculiar gaze before answering.
"A Bone Dragon starts at a minimum of Tier 10. It’s said that there are even some so powerful it’s doubtful a human could ever handle them."
Simon’s heart pounded like a war drum. An undead of such extreme difficulty that he couldn’t even create or control it yet. That was the Bone Dragon.
’Good. Having a firm goal makes me even more motivated!’
Back in his seat, Simon burned with enthusiasm. Watching him from the front of the room, Aaron’s expression hardened.
’Don’t tell me that madman is actually considering it.’
He could only hope he was wrong.

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