Eight Boxes of Gift Sets

Simon had to endure not one but five rounds of being tossed into the air by his cheering classmates.

Even as the fervor of their successful mission still burned hot.

The boss monster had fallen, a light had shimmered in the sky, and gift boxes had come drifting down.

"No way!"

"This mission had prizes attached!"

One box for each student, dropping at everyone's feet. Simon, for his part, was flat on his back gasping for air, too wrecked from the tossing to care about any presents.

"What's the gift?"

Simon asked. A girl who had already opened hers smiled brightly and answered.

"A Skeleton Set!"

Simon snapped awake and scrambled over to tear open his own box.

It was true. And not just any ordinary skeleton—it was a Skeleton Mage Set, from the 'Fran' brand, known to be in the same league as Vanilla Brand, widely considered the finest on the market.

'They're giving away something this expensive as a prize? This BMAT really is something else.'

Since it had been a yellow-card Summoning game, it seemed the prizes had been Summoning-themed as well.

A wide grin spread across Simon's face.

"Great work, everyo—"

But at some point, all the students had turned to look at him, wearing knowing little smiles.

They exchanged glances among themselves as if coordinating something, then one by one began to nod.

"Here, Simon."

The students began setting their own Skeleton Mage Sets down in front of him.

By the time eight Skeleton Mage Sets had piled up at his feet, Simon's face had gone pale with shock.

"Wh-what's this all of a sudden?"

The girl with the headband waved her hands briskly with an embarrassed smile.

"Come on, we have consciences too, you know."

"Honestly, you did pretty much everything."

"And it's not like we're Summoning majors. We don't really need these."

The boy beside him clapped a hand on Simon's shoulder.

"Take them while I'm asking nicely. This isn't optional."

With that, he was the first to step through the portal and out. The other students followed after him.

'......Haha.'

Simon's eyes grew hot and glassy.

This one actually got to him.

"Great work out there, everyone!"

The students filed out of the game one by one, waving. Simon grabbed his Skeleton Mage Sets and stepped through the portal as well.

Outside, all four hours had already passed, and the After-School BMAT was over.

Everywhere he looked, students were chattering and laughing as they headed back to the dormitories or made for the cafeteria.

Simon set off toward his dorm as well.

What he'd earned from this BMAT was two cards.

Plus two boxes of the 'Crystal Skeleton' he'd won as a prize, and eight boxes of the 'Skeleton Mage Set.' It was a haul so absurd he half wondered if he was allowed to keep it all.

'I want to go build one right now!'

Simon's head was filled to the brim with thoughts of assembling Skeleton Mages.

He decided to save the Crystal Skeletons for later, since he had no idea what they'd turn into.

"Oh, you're back, Simon!"

Dick bellowed the moment Simon returned to Room 409.

He was already changed and ready for the bath, waiting for Simon.

"This siege battle was a total blast too! The tactics those guys pull keep getting more creative every time!"

Dick chattered nonstop even on the way to the communal bath, towel in hand. He threw an arm around Simon's neck.

"Next game, you promised to do a siege battle with me, right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I promise."

Apparently the siege battle theme was always held at the Kizen Academy Fortress Walls. The card's location kept changing, but he'd said it was guaranteed to be somewhere on the ramparts.

Simon had assured him he'd join the siege battle with Dick next time.

"Ugh, it's stuffy in here. Let's hurry up and go in!"

Dick grabbed the communal bath door and yanked it open.

Swirl, swirl, swirl!

The moment the door opened, a scene of naked brazenness spread out before them. Sweaty men had shed their shirts, baring their muscular torsos as they sent clouds of steam billowing in every direction.

And beyond them, naked boys were stampeding headlong into the baths in a thundering mob. Dick quietly shut the door.

"Let's just wash in the bathroom sink."

"Y-yeah."

After his shower, Simon decided to build his prize Skeleton Mage right away.

He picked up the Skeleton Mage Set and was heading out of Room 409 when Dick, sprawled on his bed, gave him a look usually reserved for lunatics.

"......Seriously? You just finished a huge exam, and you want to go build a skeleton?"

Simon, cradling the Skeleton Mage Set protectively against his chest, flashed a bright smile.

"Yep!"

"......You're a machine. A absolute machine."

Dick shook his head slowly.

Simon left Room 409 and arrived at the dormitory's parlor room.

He opened the door to find no one there. Everyone else seemed to be resting or off at the cafeteria.

Simon claimed the most spacious spot and set his boxes down.

Suddenly, Pier spoke up.

"Yes, sir, yes, sir."

Simon set his hands down and examined the box quietly. On the front it read Skeleton Mage, and beneath it, a logo spelled 'Fran' in elegant golden lettering.

Before long, giddy as a child on his birthday, he opened the box.

"Ohhh."

Both cheeks flushed, Simon wore an expression like a man melting into a puddle.

Inside the box, a plush wine-red cushion had been laid out, and at its center sat the skull, with the Skeleton Mage's vertebrae, arm bones, leg bones, and the rest arranged in perfect order in each compartment.

"Yes. Looks like it's two-tiered."

Simon separated the box holding the skull, set it beside him, and opened the box underneath.

"A staff?"

Inside was the wooden staff the Skeleton Mage would wield. It came in two pieces, the upper and lower halves packed separately.

Simon took out the staff first, peeled the sticker off the lower joint, and fitted the two halves together.

Then the magic sealed inside the staff activated, and the pieces clasped together as if drawn to each other, fusing into one seamless whole.

Simon ran his fingers over the surface and found no trace of a seam. As if it had always been a single staff.

"Forgive me, Senior Venya Vanilla, but the Fran brand just keeps getting better."

But there was no instruction manual anywhere. As Simon rummaged through the box, Pier spoke up.

"The lid?"

Now that he looked, there was a protruding pull-tab on the box lid.

Simon gave it a tug.

Thump!

A fat, stubby paper bundle dropped out of nowhere.

'THIS is the manual?'

It was practically an entire book. When he flipped through it with a rustle, the pages were crammed dense with equations.

An earthquake went off in Simon's pupils.

Simon had assumed it would be something like the 'Magiste System' they used in Professor Aaron's Summoning class, but that had been a colossal miscalculation.

The Magiste was a system for poking and prodding an already-finished Skeleton Mage in search of the optimal spell layout. Assembling a truly original Skeleton Mage of your own required a serious volume of study.

And that was even though he'd only be 'assembling' a skeleton that was already mostly built.

Simon let out a strained laugh and rolled up his sleeves.

"......I'm f-fired up."

Simon gathered his composure and opened the manual to its first page.

Now that he looked, there was very little on body assembly—ninety percent of the book was devoted to constructing the Skeleton Mage's summoning magic circle.

'Let's begin.'

Having skimmed the manual, Simon spread a 'Jet-Black Sheet'—a mat for drafting out the magic circle—across the desk and laid the circle out flat. It was a sheet that let you practice drawing the circle before applying it to the Skeleton Mage's skull.

"Start with dominion."

The basic framework of the summoning circle was already laid out for him.

He unlocked the circle's security and released its locks, then poured in Jet-Black to make the circle his own.

Simon licked ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his dry lips and moved on to the next step, activating the essential equations and linking the Jet-Black circuits one after another as he consulted the manual.

"So I get to decide which dark magic my Skeleton Mage uses!"

For skeletons that wielded weapons like bows, the monster's lifetime experience mattered. The principle was reawakening the memories left in the body to create undead that could swing a weapon.

But a Skeleton Mage was an undead that cast magic. Any skeleton that had used magic in life met the basic prerequisite, and regardless of which spells it had cast back then, the summoner got to choose what magic it used.

Simon thought of Meilin's ice magic, the kind he was most familiar with.

"Let's go with Ice Bolt for now."

Simon dove into the equations.

And.

He got rather a lot absorbed in it.

Knock knock.

At the sound of knuckles rapping on the parlor door, Simon looked up. A dormitory caretaker had opened the door and was poking her head in.

"G-goodness, child! You haven't slept and it's this hour—what are you doing in here?"

"Huh?"

"Look out the window!"

It was already dawn.

And not just early morning—the darkness had somehow melted away, and a pale half-light was creeping in.

Simon blinked blankly for a moment, then hauled himself up with a groan of protest from his joints.

"I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize, but go lie down and get some sleep! You won't get much, mind!"

Time had genuinely flown by in the blink of an eye.

Simon carefully gathered up his magic circle sheet, placed it back in the box, and got to his feet.

"Let me give you all advance notice."

First period, Summoning class. Aaron said this while scratching at his scruffy hair.

"Starting next class, we begin the Skeleton Mage project in earnest."

At Aaron's declaration, the students made no attempt to hide their excitement, cheering loudly.

"Finally, we get to build one!"

"An undead that casts magic! Amazing!"

But watching them, the Summoning teaching assistants sent silent words of condolence their way. Come next class, those cheers would turn to screams and wails.

"What you'll need is a Skeleton Mage Set."

Aaron began writing examples across the blackboard.

"I won't demand you go out and buy the expensive Vanilla or Fran brands, but at minimum, purchase one of the brands written here. Other brands use entirely different frameworks for building a Skeleton Mage."

Just then, Dick jabbed Simon's arm.

"Hey, that's great news, Simon! You've got a Fran brand set lying around, and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠since we're building Skeleton Mages right in the very next class, you can just keep pace with everyone."

"......"

"And don't stay up till dawn again, you hear me?"

Simon laced his fingers together, his face deadly serious.

"When's the next Summoning class again?"

"Two days from now."

"Then my deadline is two days from now."

"......?"

Dick blinked at him as if he'd lost his mind.

"Hold on—class is in two days, and you're setting your deadline for two days from now? What is that even supposed to mean?"

Simon answered only with a silent smile.

His goal wasn't to finish the Skeleton Mage on schedule. Simon's ultimate objective for his first year at Kizen was to build a Lich.

He couldn't afford to let something like a Skeleton Mage trip him up.

'I will finish the Skeleton Mage before Professor Aaron's class, no matter what it takes.'

Working on it through the whole night had shown him a wall.

And he wanted to smash that wall to pieces with his own hands, just to prove he could.

"And while it should go without saying—so much so that it's almost embarrassing to mention—"

As the students began chattering, Aaron banged on the blackboard.

"Master the Jet-Black Elemental basics that your Skeleton Mage will cast. Things like Call Fire and Cold Bolt. I expect there isn't a single cretin among you who can't personally perform the spell he ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠intends to have his Skeleton Mage use."

Dick's head whipped around.

"Meilin! I need tutoring in Jet-Black Ice magic!"

"Ugh! You absolute moron!"

As Meilin exploded in fury and tore into Dick, Simon was quietly scribbling notes in his notebook.

—Call Fire.

—Gust Circle.

—Cold Bolt.

Simon intended to build Skeleton Mages of all three elements.