Chapter 584

Yi-Han was startled for a moment, but he quickly came to his senses and said,

"I practiced a lot."

"Cough. So..."

"It's a dark element skeleton warrior."

"Cough, cough. That's..."

"I summoned it with ancient necromancy, and it can even dance..."

"What? That's a bit interesting."

Professor Mortum, who was coughing, forgot about his cough and showed interest when he heard about the skeleton dancer.

To think that a dark mage could create a skeleton dancer using ancient necromancy, which required the mage to give detailed commands directly.

He was curious about how much talent and effort had gone into it.

"Oops. Come to my senses. Still, it's not allowed."

"But why?"

"Cough. Because if Raphael sees your undead summon, he'll be discouraged and disappointed."

"..."

Yi-Han couldn't refute such a reasonable statement.

Well, since Raphael was showing enthusiasm for dark magic for once, there was no point in discouraging him.

Considering the future of the dark magic school with a small number of students, it was right to show some consideration for a student like Raphael who had persevered until the end of the year.

"And you'll get a perfect score anyway, won't you? Cough. Now, go and prepare for the next exam."

With a sense of emptiness, Yi-Han walked out of the Darkness Chamber.

'Can an exam be like this?'

***

Before Professor Millei's summoning magic exam began.

There was a tense atmosphere lingering in the lecture hall.

As there were many students taking the class, the level of tension was different from the dark magic school.

There was a tense atmosphere about who would achieve a better score.

Salko of the Tutanta family was also not one to back down from such competition.

"Tutanta. You seem to have prepared a lot."

"Hmph. I didn't prepare much because I was studying enchantment magic."

"For that, your book is tattered?"

"It was originally an old book."

Salko tried not to reveal any gaps in response to the checks from competitors from other towers, pretending not to have studied.

Originally, real competition started before the exam.

The strong had to know how to hide their claws.

'I prepared a lot.'

Nillia was slightly startled by Salko's words.

She was a bit confused to hear that her friend, who said he hadn't prepared much.

Did only I study a lot?

'If only I get a low score like this, it would be a bit...!'

"Heh. I didn't study much either."

"I also just played ball game last night and went to sleep."

"Actually, me too."

Salko's pretense spread like an epidemic.

The students taking summoning magic, without exception, started competing on 'who takes the exam with a more usual mindset.'

"Look at this summoning magic grimoire. Doesn't it look completely new?"

"That's not the grimoire covering this semester's content."

"Oh no. My reagent pouch fell off. Was it too heavy because I didn't use it at all?"

"You probably refilled it? There's powder on the opening of the reagent pouch."

A tense confrontation.

The students, who had been glancing at each other, were startled by the appearance of a newly arrived student.

The basic summoning magic grimoire was completely clean as if it were new.

Who on earth?

"Huh? What's up with everyone?"

Gainando was puzzled by his friends' gazes.

"...It's nothing. Gainando. Haha. You didn't study, I see."

"Prince. You should at least study a bit."

"What? No? I studied a lot??"

Gainando was flustered and made excuses, but his friends patted his shoulder with a satisfied smile.

What a reliable guy!

Yi-Han, who entered late, was amazed by the heartwarming atmosphere floating in the lecture hall.

"Why are they laughing and chatting before the exam?"

"Yi-Han! Those guys are slandering me, saying I didn't study..."

Yi-Han looked at Gainando's book once and his reagent pouch once, then said.

"You didn't, so you're hearing that."

"H-how...?! Is it magic?! Is it magic!?"

Smack!

Gainando, who got hit once, realized he was caught and made an excuse.

"It's because I was preparing for dark magic!"

Smack!

"?!"

"What did you answer for the question about creatures in the undead realm earlier?"

"Huh? That? Sand octopus."

"..."

Yi-Han was momentarily startled.

He had hit him thinking he would definitely say skeleton...

"Why sand octopus of all things?"

"Because it's a creature?"

"...That's true. But sand octopus has never been found in the undead realm."

"But just because it hasn't been found doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Couldn't it be discovered someday?"

"!"

Yi-Han was surprised by Gainando's somewhat logical point.

"Well, I guess you could think that way."

"Ah. Then is it correct?"

"No. It's not."

Yi-Han began to explain to his friend 'what is inductive reasoning?'

Gainando, who was listening, screamed that he was wrong.

"Take your seats."

Professor Millei entered the lecture hall, swinging her staff.

The windows closed and the curtains moved. The chairs that were scattered messily returned to their places, and the students were forced to sit down.

"I wonder if everyone studied a lot."

"Yes! Professor."

"Students who are usually overconfident in their study often turn out not to be. Confidence is good, but overconfidence is a no-no."

Hearing those words, Gainando made a confident expression.

Yi-Han, who was next to him, hit him again.

"As the students who studied throughout the year will know, summoning magic basically follows the experiences of the predecessors."

Professor Millei calmly began her story.

Summoning magic basically delved deeply into how to bring beings from other realms into the real realm.

Naturally, that process could become dangerous in any way, and summoning mages devised various safety devices to prepare for such situations.

Having students' souls enter other realms through Professor Millei's magic circle was also one of those devices.

It was to protect the soul from threatening beings in other realms through dozens of linked spells.

Among them, there were direct protection spells such as soul protection, soul trace reduction, and affinity enhancement, but there were also spells that fixed the coordinates of realms and made them move along familiar paths.

So that they could move within the relatively safe areas that had been explored before.

But paradoxically, if one only took the safe path, one could not find true wisdom.

The wisdom unknown to mages was always beyond the dangerous territories.

'I have a bad feeling.'

Yi-Han frowned while listening to Professor Millei's words.

Other summoning magic students were listening while taking notes with an impressed expression, but Yi-Han didn't easily fall for such words.

Didn't Professor Bagrak also say something like 'Let's explore beyond the limits of current magic combat' and beat Yi-Han?

The words of professors who told them to go beyond rarely ended well.

"So today's exam will be about removing the safety devices and exploring the realm of uncertainty."

"!"

The students who understood Professor Millei's meaning were startled.

Among the murmuring students, someone carefully raised their hand and asked.

"Professor. Wouldn't it be too dangerous?"

"Good question. Of course, just because it's the realm of uncertainty doesn't mean I'll leave everything entirely up to you. I'll have to control it to some extent."

Professor Millei swung her staff again, and the chalk walked on the blackboard, drawing a picture.

A new realm gate, and something passing through that gate...

'A scoop net?'

'A fishing rod?'

'A versatile golem arm?'

The students murmured at the strange shape of the artifact.

It looked like a golem's arm, but it also looked like a fishing rod or scoop net used by fishermen, which was very odd.

"I understand. Professor. We're not going in directly, but only sending in the artifact."

Salko spoke as if he understood.

The other students realized it upon hearing those words.

"I thought of that too!"

"Right. It's much safer to just put in the artifact."

Professor Millei glared at the students, who were burning with unnecessary competition, through her monocle.

The students became embarrassed and shut their mouths.

'Certainly, if it's that method...'

Yi-Han was lost in thought.

Previously, mages directly contacted and entered other realms, but this was a form of just sticking an artifact into another realm.

Of course, it would be much more inconvenient and tricky than the former, but it was incomparable in terms of safety.

It was an especially tempting story for someone like Yi-Han, who was treated poorly in various ways when going to other realms.

"Professor, can that be used in the spirit realm too?"

"Student Yi-Han. It's better not to think about contracting spirits in this way. They are delicate and sensitive beings, so if you kidnap and bring them like this..."

"Ah, no. I was just asking. I had no intention of contracting with this."

Yi-Han was startled when his inner thoughts were exposed.

How did she know?

"Now, then..."

Professor Millei glanced at the time.

"Until the exam ends, do your best to find and bring back mysterious beings from other realms..."

Before she finished speaking, the students got up, picked up an artifact each, and returned to their seats.

On the desk, the magic circle prepared by Professor Millei was shimmering.

'This time, I will definitely show something.'

Yi-Han's determination was firmer than ever due to the professors who kept letting him pass, causing dissatisfaction with the exams.

He would show something even if he had to utilize everything he had learned so far!

***

"Mmm. Yeah, yeah. Thank you."

Nillia nodded her head, listening to the whispers of the spirits.

While ordinary students were shoving artifacts first and stirring other realms, clever students were using available methods to check the information of the realms.

Someone like Nillia, who had high affinity with spirits, received help from spirits.

Even if there was no direct information, it was possible to roughly confirm through the spirits' inquiries.

"Stones, please choose either up or down."

Someone casting a limited divination magic.

"Ugh. I can't secure vision. It breaks while passing through the realm."

Someone casting additional enchantment magic to secure vision.

"Go in. Yeah. Wait a bit, hmm. It broke. Next. Go in."

Someone lining up skeleton warriors in front of the magic circle and pushing them in one by one...

"?!"

"????"

The students next to him had already forgotten their own exams and were staring at Yi-Han.

That's how shocking it was.

No matter how much of a summon it was, could he use them like consumables like that?

"Hmm. Yeah. Is a bit more to the right better?"

The sparrow spirit and squirrel spirit were advising Yi-Han from his shoulders about where to send the skeletons.

In the meantime, all the summoned skeleton warriors disappeared.

Yi-Han rummaged through his reagent pouch and took out new bone powders.

"Rise again..."

"Wa-Wardanaz. Won't the summons get angry if you do it like that?"

"My skeletons are fine."

The skeleton warriors commanded by ancient necromancy were not beings from another realm, but more like puppets entirely composed of Yi-Han's mana.

There was no problem even if he treated them carelessly like other summons.

Of course, it was a shocking answer for students who didn't know well.

"...?!!"

"No... Wardanaz's skeletons are a bit different."

Nillia quickly stepped up for her friend.

It seemed like the misunderstanding would grow at this rate.

"Those aren't contracted, but directly summoned!"

"Ah, is that so? Dark magic can do that too?"

"I almost misunderstood."

At Nillia's explanation, the friends understood and nodded their heads.

They almost misunderstood Wardanaz.

In the meantime, Yi-Han summoned the real skeleton warrior, Gonadaltes.

"Gonadaltes. I think I found a roughly safe area. You need to go in and lead the other skeleton warriors. Can you do it?"

Seeing that, the friends said to Nillia with a smile.

"That's also just him attaching a name to an assembled skeleton, right?"

"If Nillia hadn't told us, we would have misunderstood because of the way he's conversing like that. Haha!"

"...Th-that's right! That's also just an assembled skeleton!"