Less than a month remained until final exams.
Simon was fully occupied with intense training under the guise of supplementary classes. Dark Mechanics, Curses, and Combat Magic were all driving his growth from different angles.
But if one had to point out the most unique class among them...
’Nice! Found another one!’
It was Aaron’s Intermediate Summoning.
Simon had taken a teleportation magic circle to an excavation site frequented by archaeologists. He was even dressed the part, sporting a rugged brown jacket.
"You’ve got quite the knack for this line of work, kid."
An excavator with a soot-covered face chuckled heartily. Simon carefully placed his newly discovered bone onto a makeshift shelf.
"Thanks," Simon replied.
"Take your time with it, no rush."
Simon then pulled various tools from the bag slung over his shoulder. He carefully brushed the dirt off the bone’s surface before placing it onto a magic circle board.
Then, he lifted an artifact resembling a compass.
With a soft click, he pressed the button, and the needle whirled around, spinning a full 180 degrees. The corners of Simon’s mouth curled into a grin.
’Bingo.’
He straightened his back and looked at his collection with satisfaction.
"You even got a femur. Looks like you’re all set."
Aaron strode over to him. Like Simon, the professor wore a brown jacket and a hard hat.
"Yes, sir! This bone has the highest concentration of the ’Dragon Factor’ yet!"
The reason they had taken a teleportation magic circle all the way out here was simple.
It was for the Bone Dragon class.
"We’ll start the lesson right here," Aaron said, taking a seat.
"The material we’ll be handling today is the drake. You know about them, right?"
"Yes. They’re commonly called degenerated dragons, right?"
"Right. You could say it’s the very first introductory step in crafting a Bone Dragon."
Aaron crossed his arms.
"First, I’ll explain the main premise. There are two crucial elements in crafting a Bone Dragon. The first is—"
The dark excavation site flashed brightly with a low hum as a magic circle unfolded. Without any accompanying formulas, a single, alien-looking character sat dead in the center.
"The Dragon Rune."
While the runes Simon had studied so far possessed a certain uniformity—whether visual or functional—the Dragon Rune felt completely different.
Its form seemed to mock the existing magic system. If anything, it was reminiscent of characters from the legendary Eastern Continent.
"And what’s required to activate this Dragon Rune is—"
"The ’Dragon Factor’ you mentioned?" Simon guessed.
"Correct."
Aaron grabbed one of the bones Simon had collected and tossed it straight toward the magic circle.
As the flying drake bone touched the magic circle, it thrummed softly and suddenly floated into the air as if gravity had vanished.
"Whoa!" Simon marveled.
"The Dragon Factor remaining inside the bone reacted upon encountering the Dragon Rune," Aaron explained, grabbing a second bone and tossing it.
The bone touched the magic circle and lingered in the air for a moment, but soon, as if losing its power, it dropped and hit the ground with a dull thud.
"Bones with a low concentration of the Dragon Factor have a weak reaction like this. Only bones that still retain enough of the factor can be operated with this Dragon Rune. This is the fundamental basis of a Bone Dragon."
Having quickly jotted down notes, Simon tapped his chin with the feather of his quill.
"So the core of a Bone Dragon is the ’Dragon Rune.’ And only bones imbued with the ’Dragon Factor’ are controlled by it."
"Exactly."
"Then the reason we didn’t just hunt the drakes scattered across the continent and came all the way to an excavation site instead..."
"Right."
Aaron nodded, slipping his hands into his pockets.
"Modern drakes have all undergone severe ’degeneration,’ so they have no Dragon Factor left. Of course, they evolved this way to adapt and survive in a shifting ecosystem, but now they’re nothing more than mere monsters. You can’t even call them ’dragons’ anymore."
"That’s fascinating."
"They lowered their own ’status’ for the sake of survival. It’s something that happens commonly—not just in the wild, but in the human world as well."
He gestured toward the bones with his chin.
"It’s your turn now."
"Yes, sir!"
Simon focused his mind and held up both hands.
He thought of the Dragon Rune he had been practicing all this time. The most basic of them all.
Jet-black magic undulated and flowed from his palms. The dark aura spread into the air, as if asking:
[What are you going to make?]
As if telling him to just say the word, the jet-black aura’s inherent property of memory waited for Simon’s command.
But Simon wasn’t trying to use standard dark magic.
’Empty it.’
This was a completely new style of rune. The theories, knowledge, and experiences he had learned so far were of no help here.
Relying solely on intuition and talent, he materialized the hazy imagery in his head.
[Something’s wrong!]
[Is this a mistake? Are you trying to make this formula?]
The jet-black aura’s memory property desperately tried to produce something familiar.
But Simon shook off all those strong temptations and willingly threw himself into the unknown sea.
What he wanted was...
’A new domain!’
A brilliant light flashed as Simon finally opened his eyes.
A bizarrely shaped rune was born—one that completely shattered the conventional rules of runes, featuring several supporting strokes underneath and weirdly drawn lines.
The drake bones resting on the table reacted immediately, rattling on their own before floating into the air and hovering above the magic circle.
Because of the difference in factor concentration, some rose high while others hovered precariously low, as if about to fall. Still, every single bone reacted.
’Nice!’
Simon grinned at a sensation he had never felt before in his life, moving his arms diligently. The bones spinning in the magic circle gathered, fitting together into various shapes.
Watching this, Aaron stroked his rough beard and smiled.
’I was planning to have him do this task for at least a month.’
It seemed there would be no need for that.
Finally, all the jet-black magic making up the rune exhausted itself, and the bones returned to the table.
"How was it? Did it work?" Simon asked.
"Yeah. Remember the sensation you just felt."
Aaron turned and walked away.
"Staying in this cave for too long is starting to ruin my throat. Let’s head outside to talk."
"Yes, sir!"
Simon and Aaron stepped out of the excavation site.
They could see archaeologists and excavation workers moving about frantically. One archaeologist recognized Aaron and greeted him.
"Professor Aaron! It’s been a while!"
"It has been a while, Doctor."
"What brings someone of your caliber all the way out here?"
He lightly placed a hand on Simon’s head.
"I was just doing some fieldwork with my student," Aaron replied.
"Hello!"
Since the man seemed to be an acquaintance of Aaron’s, Simon greeted him politely.
The archaeologist laughed heartily.
"Right, right. What’s the point of staying cooped up in a classroom? Coming out to sites like this is all part of the experience. Learn a lot before you go."
After exchanging a few more words, the archaeologist spotted a large bone being brought out from the site and hurried over to it.
Aaron took off his jacket and sat on a rock.
"This is enough for the drakes. From now on, we’ll gradually get the hang of it by handling bones artificially imbued with the Dragon Factor."
"Understood."
Simon knew this from his time with the Dullahan; he had to build up these preliminary steps one by one to reach his destination.
"I have a question, Professor."
"Go ahead."
"Did all drakes degenerate into monsters?"
Aaron shook his head.
"While some drakes gave up their status for the sake of breeding and survival, there are also ancient drakes that developed the Dragon Factor in their bodies and can even use a breath attack. They are beings so powerful that it’s almost an insult to call them drakes."
Simon’s eyes sparkled.
"If I practice with something like that, wouldn’t it be helpful before crafting the real Bone Dragon Lady Nephthys gave me?"
"It would be helpful, but..."
Aaron closed his eyes and added,
"Those things are extremely rare. And expensive."
Busy putting his pipe in his mouth, Aaron failed to notice just how brightly Simon’s eyes sparkled at the words ’rare’ and ’expensive.’
Having obtained this crucial information about rare ancient drakes, Simon returned to Roc Island and continued his supplementary classes in Dark Mechanics, Curses, and Combat Magic to hone his skills.
At night, he studied for final exams, and at dawn, he entered Pier’s Ruins to secretly research new techniques in preparation for his fight against Aizel.
The Chaos Dullahan—Simon’s secret weapon that had slaughtered ten thousand monsters during the performance assessment—stood before him, its body crackling with energy.
At the ends of the Dullahan’s body...
Wheat made of chaos was sprouting with a soft sizzle.
Simon let out a cheer and collapsed onto his back.
"I... I did it."
[Kuhahaha! This is interesting!]
Pier, who had been watching, approached and crossed his arms.
[You mimicked the Saintess’s technique with ’Chaos’ and grafted it onto the Dullahan! It’s impressive, but this will make the dark magic too heavy.]
"Yeah, that’s what I’m a bit worried about."
It still lacked practicality, but he decided to focus on the fact that he had succeeded at all.
’I can’t wait for the day I fight Senior Aizel.’
He returned to his dormitory late into the dawn.
Catching only a little sleep, he attended his regular and supplementary classes.
In his spare time, he studied for finals, and in the evening, he had to stop by the student council room to handle his duties. Since it was the end of the semester, student council work was incredibly busy.
"Simon! Please sign here!"
"Thanks, Kami."
Simon skimmed the document and signed it.
’I wish I could clone myself ten times over.’
At Kizen, every minute and every second was worth its weight in gold.
There were simply too many things he had to do and wanted to do.
Especially now, with regular classes, supplementary classes, crafting the Bone Dragon, studying for finals, preparing for performance assessments, the decisive battle with Aizel, and student council work all piling up at once.
’If only I didn’t need to sleep.’
Simon was yawning over such wishful thinking when Meirin approached him.
"Simon, sign this too..."
She stopped mid-sentence, her eyes narrowing.
"Are you tired?"
Simon quickly put on a fake smile.
"No, no. I’m fine. Do I just sign here?"
"You aren’t the type to pull all-nighters for finals this early... You’re not actually preparing to beat Senior Aizel, are you?"
Meirin was sharp. Simon smiled awkwardly.
"I was just trying out this and that. Also to prepare for the duel evaluations..."
"You already have a 100% win rate in the second-year duel evaluations, what more is there to prepare for!"
Meirin nagged him briefly about the importance of managing his condition before letting out a sigh.
Regardless, preparing for the fight against Aizel in the midst of such a busy schedule was his way of working hard for the student council, so she didn’t press the issue further.
Instead, she offered,
"Don’t just suffer alone. Tell me if you need my help."
Simon stopped talking and stared blankly at Meirin. Suddenly the center of his intense gaze, Meirin blushed and turned her head away.
"W-What?"
"Meirin. Now that you mention it..."
A good idea had just popped into Simon’s head.
"Could you help me out a bit?"
They finished their student council work and stepped outside.
Meirin put her hands on her hips.
"Huh? You’re asking me to be a sparring partner for your undead right now?"
"Yeah."
Simon spoke while meticulously manipulating the chaos magic circle. In front of him stood the Chaos Dullahan, boasting its massive size.
"A duel! A duel!"
At the sudden prospect of an entertaining spectacle, Dick looked incredibly delighted.
"Do your best, both of you! Simon! Meirin!"
Kamibarez also flapped her wings and cheered them on. Meirin laughed in disbelief.
"So I’m supposed to be a stand-in for Senior Aizel. But even though we’re both in the Dark Mechanics department, the dark magic we use is completely different, you know?"
"That’s fine," Simon assured her.
The rule Simon proposed this time was ’Full Position.’
Originally, in duel evaluations, one wasn’t allowed to prepare dark magic in advance. But the Full Position rule was one where both sides clashed with as much dark magic prepared as possible.
Because they fought with their main skills at full power right from the start, victory or defeat was usually decided in an instant. Furthermore, the key was how powerful their dark magic was, and how many magic circles they could keep unfolded and maintained.
Meirin had completed and maintained a whopping five different dark magic circles, while Simon had only prepared the single Chaos Dullahan.
"Alright, naturally, I’ll be the referee!"
Dick stepped forward.
"The Full Position rule is dangerous, so the first one to land a proper valid hit and shave off half of the barrier gauge wins! No objections, right?"
"None," Meirin muttered.
’Why am I even doing this?’
Grumbling to herself, she looked at the massive headless giant standing next to Simon.
She swallowed hard.
The Chaos Dullahan was Simon’s most powerful summon, having carved a new legend in Kizen by slaughtering ten thousand monsters.
Now that she was actually about to face it, her nerves were getting the better of her.
Dick caught that sight and wiggled his eyebrows.
"Oh? Are you scared, Meirin?"
"N-No! Scared of what!"
Meirin shrieked and clenched her fists tightly.
"Do you think you can beat me, a Top Six student, with just a summon? I’ll end this in one blow, so be prepared!"
Simon smiled brightly. Dick raised his arm high.
"Alright, here we go! In the red corner! Pissed off after losing to Serne last year, she’s been ruthlessly massacring the regular students and maintaining a 100% win rate in duel evaluations! A girl who wouldn’t bleed a drop even if you pricked her with a needle, Meirin Villenne!"
"Hey! What kind of introduction is that?!" Meirin shouted.
"And in the blue corner! The student council president, Simon Polentia, leading the Chaos Dullahan known to have slaughtered ten thousand monsters!"
He brought his arm down.
"Match start!"
As soon as Simon issued the command through his thoughts, the Chaos Dullahan charged at Meirin with a deafening roar.

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