The First Spell of the Skeleton Mage
With two cards collected, about twenty minutes still remained.
Simon swept his gaze around on the off chance he might run into the target student, but the odds of finding exactly the person he wanted on Roc Island, vast as it was, were slim to none.
And so the four-hour exam came to an end, and Simon made his way back to the Kizen campus. Along the way, he ran into Dick.
“That was legitimately, legitimately the most fun I've ever had!”
Dick had gone into full hype mode. He thrust both fists into the air with a whoosh of breath, sending his bangs fluttering.
“Is this seriously the BMAT I know? Is it legal for a BMAT to be this fun? Whoa…!”
Simon replied with an amused face.
“Okay, calm down and tell me about it.”
Dick had finally managed to find the siege warfare theme.
The venue had been the Kizen fortress walls, with a capacity of thirty. Fifteen students each gathered on cards positioned inside and outside the wall — those on the inside became the defending team, and those on the outside the besieging team.
And as it happened, Dick had won on the defending side.
“I enchanted the cannons, I put enchants on even the regular soldiers' arrows! My performance was insane!”
“…Huh. Sounds like it'd be fun, yeah.”
It really did sound like a recreation of a full-scale war, and Simon felt himself being tempted. Siege warfare was precisely the kind of theme that set a boy's adventurous spirit ablaze.
“How does the game time work?”
“Time flows slower inside the siege game. Felt like I fought nonstop for half a day, but when I came out, only about three hours had passed.”
Three hours meant that even finding his next card in one hour would have been a close call.
“Oh, and the top contributor on each team — defense and siege — gets an extra ‘1 point,’ completely separate from the cards!”
“That part's tempting.”
On the way back to the dormitory, every student they passed was talking about the BMAT.
And they'll be doing this once or twice a week?
It was definitely low-stress and clean, as far as exams went.
Of course, students would adjust their strategies next time, so there was no telling how it would play out — but Simon figured it was manageable enough to run alongside the professors' regular classes.
“Anyway, Simon! Next exam, come do the siege theme with me!”
“I'll consider it positively.”
The next morning.
“Simon! Over here!”
“Two minutes late, you slackers!”
Having prepared thirty minutes early and headed outside, Simon and Dick met up with Meilin and Camibarez.
The reason for meeting early was, as expected, to share BMAT intel. The four of them sat at an outdoor table in front of the café, ordered sandwiches and drinks, and chattered away.
First off, all four had succeeded in obtaining two cards on the first day.
Meilin had done both of hers solo. She mentioned there were even brain-teaser themes, combining puzzle-solving with building magic circles.
Camibarez had tried a Hemomancy-themed one, where she could use only the basics — the Blood Bullet. The theme was to shoot down villains rapidly with Blood Bullets and rescue the hostages, and if she accidentally hit a hostage, her Barrier Gauge took huge chunks of damage.
“To get straight to the conclusion.”
Meilin said with a serious face.
“Card color and subject didn't have as strong a connection as we first assumed. Say you enter a red Curse Magic card — there's a good chance the game you get has nothing to do with curses at all. Fifty-fifty, from what I can tell?”
Simon nodded.
“Mine were all completely unrelated to the subjects too.”
“I really wanted to do a Hemomancy theme, so it's a bit disappointing!”
“And the reason is.”
Dick picked up a chip from the pile they'd ordered to share, popped it in his mouth, and spoke with an air of authority.
“Because the creator of this game isn't a god — it's a human being called Endolas Vaudeville.”
Simon tilted his head.
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“The color-subject link is probably a rule that was added recently.”
Dick dragged his chip through the ketchup and mustard as he went on.
“You guys noticed the game themes lean pretty hard into entertainment, right? So the professors must have pushed back. Asked him to throw in some more educationally useful, academic themes. Which means—”
“Endolas is scrambling to build new ones right now!”
“Exactly that, Cami! So next exam, we might see a lot more subject-related themes.”
Dick said this and reached back for another chip. His hand closed on empty air.
“Whoa! You guys finished these already?”
Dick's gaze naturally drifted toward Meilin.
She, who happened to be mid-chew, flushed scarlet like a thief caught red-handed.
“Hold on — hey!! Why are you looking at me first?!”
“Guilty as charged, Your Majesty the Chip Eater.”
In the end, Meilin ordered another plate of chips out of her own pocket.
“…Cheap, making a fuss over food.”
She pouted.
“My vote says the new order vanishes in three minutes flat.”
“Hey!!”
Simon and Camibarez burst into quiet laughter.
“Ahem. Anyway, so.”
Meilin quickly changed the subject away from food.
“There's going to be a big spike in kids trying to collect every color of the rainbow. Like you, Simon.”
“Probably.”
Still, there was time before the next exam.
For now, preparing for the upcoming classes — where performance assessments were about to drop on them — mattered more than the BMAT.
“What's our first class?”
“Summoning! But not in the usual lecture hall!”
“Slightly ominous. Professor Aaron did warn us he'd be furious if we goofed off.”
And so the four of them chattered their way to the lecture hall. Just as Camibarez had said, the meeting place they'd been notified of was different from the usual room.
“Whoa!”
Everyone's eyes went wide as they entered the new lecture hall.
“What's today's class?”
At each student's seat stood a skeleton skull and a single arm, with a magic circle laid out before them. A staff was held in the arm's grip.
“We're finally making those!”
Meilin said, face alight with excitement.
“Making what?”
“Skeleton Mages!”
Simon's eyes grew wide. His heart beginning to pound, he quickly set down his gear and examined the magic circle carefully.
It was a summoning circle, but with a somewhat unusual structure. Several elements essential to a standard summoning circle were missing, leaving it streamlined and simplified.
“Professor's coming!”
At that shout, the students scrambled to their seats. Soon Professor Aaron and the teaching assistants filed into the lecture hall.
Aaron made his entrance once again with unkempt hair, a bristly beard that looked days overdue for a shave, short sleeves and shorts, dragging his slippers along the floor.
He opened his mouth in a languid voice.
“As I stressed yesterday, starting today, all of Kizen enters performance assessment season.”
At the words 'performance assessment,' the students' expressions hardened.
Performance assessments counted directly toward their grades. Simply put, if midterms and finals were the written exams, the performance assessments were the practical ones.
“Then let me explain the Summoning department's performance assessment one more time, briefly.”
Aaron walked to the blackboard, picked up a piece of chalk, and drew a long line.
“Over the rest of the second semester, you will sit for every performance assessment that's been deferred. Only one assessment has been completed so far.”
Aaron bundled off 20% of the line, then wrote 'Deathland' beneath it.
“Remember? First semester — the assessment where we graded your original zombies in Deathland.”
The students nodded, dredging up old memories.
Simon was no different. That was where he'd first met Prince, after all.
“Which leaves the remaining 80%.”
Aaron drew a sharp dividing line through the middle of it.
“Half of that — 40% of your entire assessment grade — is the single most important assignment, and I'm unveiling it now.”
The students swallowed hard. Aaron tapped out the characters one by one with his hand, and with each stroke, their eyes grew bigger.
Creation of a Magic-Casting Undead
A low murmur rippled through the room!
“And to this.”
Aaron added two more words: 'and thesis.'
Creation of a Magic-Casting Undead and Thesis
“Wa-ha.”
Dick let out a hollow laugh.
“A thesis? Like, an actual thesis you present at an academic conference?”
Even Meilin, a model student from birth among model students, was visibly trembling.
“…We're seventeen. What is a seventeen-year-old supposed to do with a thesis?”
“This is brutal.”
“Any thought of the BMAT just evaporated.”
While the students reeled, Simon alone was off chasing flights of fancy in his head.
My very own magic-casting undead, huh.
When the lecture hall grew too noisy, Aaron spoke again.
“Attention.”
The students snapped back to their senses and turned to him.
“There's no need to feel overwhelmed just yet. This ‘magic-casting undead creation’ will be evaluated at the very tail end of the Summoning curriculum. Think of it as the final goal of your first-year Summoning course.”
Aaron crossed his arms.
“And no professor assigns an impossible task. If you simply keep up with the lessons, the curriculum is structured so that you'll arrive at this goal naturally. Understood?”
“Yes, sir!”
“Then let's begin the class.”
Having quashed the complaints with a few simple words, Aaron stepped up to the blackboard.
The students lifted their heads high too. Perhaps because the assessment talk had just ended, their focus was visibly sharper.
“When it comes to creating a magic-casting undead, everyone in this room starts from ‘zero.’ Whether it's undead control or Bone Restoration — none of it much matters here. I've designed it so even those of you falling behind can follow along properly.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Now, look at what's in front of you.”
Everyone lowered their gaze to the objects before them.
A skull, the staff held in its hand, and the summoning circle.
“These three elements are all connected — one complete Skeleton Mage setup.”
Aaron deliberately slowed the tempo of his speech so the students could follow.
“The summoning circle in front of you — think of it as the circle that should normally sit inside the skull, pulled out onto the desk to make it easier to work with. First, let's power everyone on. Send your Jet-Black into the ‘owner recognition’ rune of the circle.”
Simon did as instructed. The moment he placed his hand on the circle's ring and channeled Jet-Black into it, the entire circle was dyed in his blue-black glow.
Click-click! Clack!
At last, the Skeleton Mage's skull began to move. At the same time, the hand gripping the staff could be seen twitching this way and that.
Next, Simon successfully connected to the Skeleton Mage's consciousness, completing the setup.
“Anyone stuck?”
The students glanced around, then called out.
“No, sir!”
“Then straight into practice. Run the formulas of that circle exactly as they are and have your Skeleton Mage cast an offensive spell. The target is over here.”
The TAs moved briskly, setting up a large panel to each student's left.
When they made some adjustment to it, a single sheet of Jet-Black barrier snapped open across the panel.
“Everyone's spell is set identically to ‘Wind Cutter.’ Move your Skeleton Mage's consciousness and fire the spell at the barrier. Even as a joke, do not shoot the person in front of you.”
“Yes, sir!”
Simon let out a soft breath, then opened his eyes wide.
Warm up the engine slowly, like a pre-ignition.
Simon's Jet-Black stirred, setting the runes within the circle in motion.
The muzzle is the staff.
The Skeleton Mage's arm, gripping the staff, moved.
The muzzle's target is the barrier.
The tip of the staff swung toward the barrier.
Fire!
A magic circle unfolded before the staff and hurled out a blade of wind.
THWOOOM!
The Wind Cutter struck the barrier dead-on and scattered. Simon clenched his fist and let out a whoop.
Thwoom!
THWOOOM!
All across the lecture hall came the sounds of wind slamming into barriers as students tested whether their Wind Cutters worked properly.
“Whoaaa!”
“This much is just the basics!”
“TA! Mine's not working!”
The room split into cheering students and students wearing tearful faces as they begged for help, while the TAs rushed about frantically.
“An undead is actually casting magic.”
Meilin, who had succeeded, wore a dazed expression — though a pleased smile played at the corners of her mouth.
Camibarez, on the other hand, had apparently failed; she kept whipping her head around, gauging the mood nearby. Every TA was already occupied with another student.
That was when Simon came over.
“If you don't mind, I can help.”
“Th-thank you, Simon!”
Her eyes shone as if she'd spotted a savior. Simon stepped in close beside her.
“First, the Jet-Black flow in your circle is unstable. Think of the Jet-Black as blood and the runes as the brain. The blood has to circulate well to feed the brain. Try to make this flow a little smoother.”
He said this, resting his hand over hers. Camibarez's pupils began to waver rapidly.
“Hmm? Cami, are you really nervous?”
“Ah, no! I'm fine!”
She shouted, her face flushing red.
“I'll support you. Just think of this circle as a controller, and your own body as that skeleton. It's like you're moving the skeleton's hand to cast the spell yourself. Connect to its consciousness and let it flow naturally.”
Camibarez gave a small nod, her face crimson — but she did manage to move the staff.
“When you command the undead, will is what matters most. It's not just a matter of 'casting a spell.' Fix your target firmly, and send over the will to shatter it. Then it'll work naturally.”
“O-okay!”
She took a deep breath and glared daggers at the barrier.
Then, seemingly having been cast at some point, a Wind Cutter sprang to life in front of her staff and slammed into the barrier.
“I-I did it, Simon!”
“Nice work.”
Simon smiled. Camibarez smiled back, her face still glowing red.
“Now, attention.”
Aaron's voice rang out. Simon hurried back to his own seat.
“Failing to manage even a basic Wind Cutter won't do. This is the foundation. And from this moment until the end of class, I'm assigning you your performance assessment task.”
Rrrrumble.
Grumble.
The TAs wheeled in carts. On them sat hundreds of rune models, along with a collection of staffs.
“From now on, using all these materials, you're going to modify the Wind Cutter your Skeleton Mage casts exactly as you see fit.”
“!”
A class like this actually existed! The students' eyes sparkled.
“And when the bell rings—”
Aaron's finger pointed at the barrier.
“Whoever breaks that thing passes.”